



^^^^H^^lH 



THE 









SEVEN GREAT HYMNS 



OF THE 



fifUtrtaebal ©Durd). 






c. c 




^cfr 



Thou haft no fiiore, fair Ocean ■. 
Thou haft no time, bright Day i 
Dear Fountain of refreshment 
To pilgrims far away ! 



FIFTH EDITION, EXLAF.GZD. 




NEW YORK 
ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & CO., 

770 BROADWAY. 

18G8. 




Entered according to Act of Congrefs, in the year 1SC8, 

By Anson D. F. Randolph & Co., 

In the Clerk's Office of the Diftri£r Court of the United States for the 
Southern Diftrift of New York 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

The Celestial Country i 

Dies Irje . v 44 

Mater Speciosa , , . . . . . 118 

Stabat Mater . . 96 

Veni Sancte Spiritus . . . . . .126 

Veni Creator Spiritus . . . . . . 134 

Vexilla Regis 140 

The Alleluiatic Seojjence •...,.. 146 

Appendix . . . . % • • • .154 



TO THE READER. 



f I ^HIS work was fuggefted by the intereft 
-*- felt in Mr. Prime's little book, the hymn, 
" O Mother Dear *Jerufalem." It is publifhed 
with a wifh that it mall be placed befide his, 
and that, rinding the fame welcome, it may yield, 
or perhaps revive, the fame pleafure and receive 
the fame approval. 

To fave from years belonging to the dark- 
ened part, thoughts of real, undeparted worth — 
to clothe thefe utterances in a drefs neither too 
common for the requirements of our tafte, nor 
too good for our daily ufe — to do this in the 
hope that purer eyes will often reft upon its 



vl Ho the Reader, 

pages, and a holy faith find refrefhment in its 
imagery — that fome one better than its author 
will keep it always near, a fecret, fympathetic 
friend for lonely hours, or gather, in forrow, 
from its fentences the confolation which they 
pofTefs — confefTes the object for which it has 
exifted, and to which it is devoted. 

Thefe hopes, which were exprelTed in the firft 
edition of this work, were fulfilled almoft at the 
inftant of its publication. And the aflurances 
that its real object was attained were more grate- 
ful than even hope had promifed. A continuing 
demand by the public has led to this revifed edi- 
tion, wherein fome trivial errors are corrected, 
and two verfions of the Dies Ira are added. 
The feven tranflations now given will render, it 
is believed, the Englifh expofition of the Great 
Hymn complete. 

New York, June, 1866. 



THE 

CELESTIAL COUNTRY, 



BERNARD DE MORLAS, monk of Clu- 
ni, is not to be confounded with the great 
Bernard his contemporary, Abbot of Clairvaux, 
and Saint in the Romifh calendar. The place 
of his nativity is uncertain, and the years of his 
birth and of his death are alike unknown. He 
lived during the firft half of the twelfth cen- 
tury ; he was born, according to one authority, 
at Morlaix, in Bretagne ; according to another, 
at Morlas, in the lower Pyrenees ; whilft a third 
gives his birth-place to England, and clafTes him 
with her illuftrious writers [De illujiribus Anglice 
Scriptoribus). 1 After feven centuries of com- 
parative forgetfulnefs, the genius of two Englim 
fcholars has revived a portion of his works ; and 
hereafter his name will be beft known in that 
country, which may poflibly poffefs his birth- 
place. 



2 The Celeflial Country. 

There flill furvive of his writings five poems, 
the greater!: of which is De Contemptu Mundl. 
It was written about 1145, and contains three 
thoufand lines, divided into three books. In 
fubftance the poem is a fatire, unforgiving and 
fevere : in form it is in dactylic hexameter verfe, 
wherein each line confifts of three parts, and 
two of thefe parts rhyme with each other, while 
the lines themfelves are in couplets of double 
rhyme. It is a verfe pedantically called " leonine 
" and tailed rhyme, with lines in three parts, 
"between which a caefura is not admiilible." 2 

The poem commences thus : 



Hora novls/ima, || tempora r>es/ima || funt, v\g\lemus. 
Ecce mime iter || imminet arbiter || ille fupremus. 
Imminet, imminet || et mala terminct, |j sequa coronet t 
Recta remunerety || anxia libera, || aethera donet, 
Auferat afpera ]| duraque pondera || mentes onujia, 
Sobria muniat, || improba pun/af, || utraque jujie. 

Hours of the lateft ! times of the bafeft ! our vigil before us! 
Judgment eternal of Being fupernal now hanging o'er us ! 
Evil to terminate, equity vindicate, cometh the Kingly ; 
Righteoufnefs feeing, anxious hearts freeing, crowning each fingly, 
Bearing life's wearinefs, tafting life's bitternefs, life as it muft be; 
Th' righteous retaining, finners arraigning, judging all juftly. 



^he Celeftial Country. 3 

This verfe, fo difficult that the Englifh lan- 
guage is incapable of exprefling it, is continued 
through the three thoufand lines of the poem. 
In his preface the monk avows the belief that 
nothing but the fpecial infpiration of the Spirit 
of God enabled him to employ it through fo 
long a poem. After recounting its difficulties, 
and alluding to the faint attempts of the two 
great verfifiers of his day, Hildebert de Lavar- 
din and Wichard of Lyons, he exclaims : " I 
" may then aflert, not in orientation, but with 
" humble confidence, that if I had not received 
" directly from on high the gift of infpiration 
" and intelligence, I had not dared to attempt 
" an enterprife fo little accorded to the powers 
" of the human mind." 

" This work," fays the author of the Hijioire Litteraire de la 
France, "was drawn from the duft in 1483, and its publication 
" was achieved on the tenth of December of the fame year, at 
ff Paris, in magni domo campi Gaillardi. The Proteftants, eager 
" to gather every thing which appears unfavorable to the Church 
" of Rome, have fince multiplied the editions. Some Catholics 
" have alfo given to it fome praifes j and furely it merits them, 
" at leaft by the fentiments of piety which it exhales, and by the 
"zeal with which the author attacks the abufes of his time." 



4 The Celejlial Country, 

" In holy Rome the only power is gold ; 
There all is bought — there every thing is fold. 
Becaufe fhe is the very way to right, 
There truth is perifhed by unholy fleight. 
Even as the wheel turns, Rome to evil turns, 
Rome, that fpreads fragrance as when incenfe burns. 
Rome wrongs mankind, and teaches men the road 
To flee far off from Righteoufnefs' abode ! 
To feek for ruinous and difgraceful gain, 
The pallium's felf with fimony to ftain. 
If aught you wifh, be fure a goodly bribe 
Will hafte the fealing of the lingering fcribe. 
Rife ! follow ! let your penny go before, 
Seek boldly then the threfhold 5 fear no more 
That any ftumbling-blocks will bar the way, 
The Pope's own favor you can get for pay — 
Without that help, 'tis beft to keep away." 

The opening of this monkifh fatire on the 
corruptions of its barbarous age, glows with a 
defcription of the Heavenly Land more beauti- 
ful than ever before was wrought in verfe. 
This a great fcholar of our time has taken from 
the poem and brought within the reach and 
notice of the world (Trench). It alfo has been 
re-woven into fimple Englifh verfe, and has re- 
ceived the appropriate name of The Celestial 
Country. 



The Celejlial Country, 5 

The tranflator of The Celestial Country 
is Dr. John Mafon Neale, Warden of Sack- 
ville College, SufTex, England, the moft fucceff- 
ful tranflator of mediaeval hymns, and one of 
the moft varied and voluminous writers of the 
time. "Lays and Legends of the Church of 
England ;" " A Church Hiftory for Children ;" 
feven volumes of romances ; a hiftory of Greece ; 
a hiftory of Portugal ; of the Patriarchate of 
Alexandria, and of the Janfenift Church of 
. Holland ; a large number of tales and hymns 
for children, and a moft learned and elaborate 
commentary on the Book of Pfalms, are included 
in the long catalogue of his works. 

This fcholar of Cambridge, and this monk of 
Cluni, have given to the religious world the 
fweeteft and deareft religious poem that our lan- 
guage contains. Dr. Neale fays that he looks 
upon the lines of Bernard " as the moft lovely, 
" in the fame way that the Dies Ira: is the moft 
" fublime, and the Stabat Mater the moft pathetic 
" of mediaeval poems," but his own poem may 
claim more juftly that word. The Celestial 
Country is better than De Contemptu Mundi. 



6 Hhe Celefiial Country. 

The beautiful fimplicity of its artlefs, childlike 
lines portrays more naturally the fervid imagery 
of the monk. After feven hundred years of 
darknefs, the holy fervor of Bernard re-kindles 
in it as warmly as when in the warmth of his 
devotion he believed himfelf fpecially infpired 
by the Moft High. In another language, at 
another time, and among thofe who can but 
dimly trace his name in the crumbling record 
of his works, the Rhyme of the poor monk re- 
lives to gladden the hearts of other Chriftians, 
loved by fuch as poflefs its faith, and treafured 
by the gentleft and the beft of earth. J 



The Celejiial Country. 



THE 
CELESTIAL COUNTRY 



DR. NEALE. 



I. 



THE world is very evil, 
The times are waxing late ; 
Be fober and keep vigil, 

The Judge is at the gate — 
The Judge that comes in mercy, 

The Judge that comes with might, 
To terminate the evil, 

To diadem the right. 
When the juft and gentle Monarch 

Shall fummon from the tomb, 
Let man, the guilty, tremble, 

For Man, the God, fhall doom ! 



8 T^be Celejiial Country. 

2. 

Arife, arife, good Chriftian, 

Let right to wrong fucceed ; 
Let penitential forrow 

To heavenly gladnefs lead — 
To the light that hath no evening, 

That knows nor moon nor fun, 
The light fo new and golden, 

The light that is but one. 



And when the Sole-Begotten 

Shall render up once more 
The kingdom to the Father, 

Whofe own it was before, 
Then glory yet unheard of 

Shall fhed abroad its ray, 
Refolving all enigmas, 

An endlefs Sabbath-day. 



Then, then from his oppreflbrs 
The Hebrew {hall go free, 



^he Celeftial Country. 

And celebrate in triumph 

The year of Jubilee ; 
And the funlit Land that recks not 

Of tempeft- nor of fight, 
Shall fold within its bofom 

Each happy Ifraelite — 
The Home of fadelefs fplendor, 

Of flowers that fear no thorn, 
Where they mall dwell as children, 

Who here as exiles mourn. 

5- 

Midft power that knows no limit, 

And wifdom free from bound, 
The Beatific Vifion 

Shall glad the Saints around — 
The peace of all the faithful, 

The calm of all the bleft, 
Inviolate, unvaried, 

Divineft, fweeteft, beft. 
Yes, peace ! for war is needlefs — 

Yes, calm ! for ftorm is paft — 
And goal from finifhed labor, 

And anchorage at laft. 



lo The Celeftial Country. 

6. 

That peace — but who may claim it ? 

The guilelefs in their wav, 
Who keep the ranks of battle, 

Who mean the thing they fay — 
The peace that is for heaven, 

And mail be for the earth ; 
The palace that re-echoes 

With feftal fong and mirth ; 
The garden, breathing fpices, 

The paradife on high ; 
Grace beautified to glory, } 

Unceafing minftrelfy. 



There nothing can be feeble, 

There none can ever mourn, 
There nothing is divided, 

There nothing can be torn. 
'Tis fury, ill, and fcandal, 

'Tis peacelefs peace below ; 
Peace, endlefs, ftrifelefs, agelefs, 

The halls of Syon know. 



Hbe Celeflial Country. 1 1 

8. 

O happy, holy portion, 

Refe&ion for the bleft, 
True vifion of true beauty, 

Sweet cure of all diftreft ! 
Strive, man, to win that glory ; 

Toil, man, to gain that light ; 
Send hope before to grafp it, 

Till hope be loft in. fight ; 
Till Jesus gives the portion 

Thofe bleffed fouls to fill— 
The infatiate, yet fatisfied, 

The full, yet craving ftill. 



That fulnefs and that craving 

Alike are free from pain, 
Where thou, midft heavenly citizens, 

A home like theirs fhalt gain. 
Here is the warlike trumpet ; 

There, life fet free from fin, 
When to the laft Great Supper 

The faithful lhall come in ; 



12 tfhe Celejlial Country. 

When the heavenly net is laden 

With fifties many and great 
(So glorious in its fulnefs, 

Yet fo inviolate) ; 
And perfecl: from unperfe&ed, 

And fall'n from thofe that ftand,4 
And the fheep-flock from the goat-herd 

Shall part on either hand. 

10. 

And thefe mail pafs to torment, 

And thofe mail triumph then — 
The new peculiar nation, 

Bleft. number of bleft men. 
Jerufalem demands them ; 

They paid the price on earth, 
And now mail reap the harveft 

In blifsfulnefs and mirth- — 
The glorious holy people, 

Who evermore relied 
Upon their Chief and Father, 

The King, the Crucified — 
The facred ranfomed number 

Now bright with endlefs fheen, 



The Celeftlal Country. 13 

Who made the Crofs their watchword 

Of Jesus Nazarene, 
Who (fed with heavenly nectar 

Where foul-like odors play) 
Draw out the endlefs leifure 

Of that long vernal day. 

11. 

And, through the facred lilies 

And flowers on every fide, 
The happy dear-bought people 

Go wandering far and wide ; 
Their breads are filled with gladnefs, 

Their mouths are tun'd to praife, 
What time, now fafe for ever, 

On former fins they gaze : 
The fouler was the error, 

The fadder was the fall, 
The ampler are the praifes 

Of Him who pardoned all. 

12. , 

Their one and only anthem, 
The fulnefs of His love, 



14 ^he Celejlial Country. 

Who gives inftead of torment, 

Eternal joys above — 
Inftead of torment, glory ; 

Inftead of death, that life 
Wherewith your happy Country, 

True Israelites, is rife. 

Brief life is here our portion, 
Brief forrow, fhort-liv'd care ; 

The life that knows no ending — 
The tearlefs life, is there. 

14. 

O happy retribution ! 

Short toil, eternal reft ; 
For mortals and for finners 

A manfion with the bleft ! 
That we fhould look, poor wand'rers, 

To have our home on high ! 
That worms fhould feek for dwelling^ 

Beyond the ftarry Iky ! 
To all one happy guerdon 

Of one celeftial grace \ 



The Cclejiial Country, 15 

For all, for all, who mourn their fall, 
Is one eternal place. 

15. 

And martyrdom hath rofes 

Upon that heavenly ground ; 
And white and virgin lilies 

For virgin-fouls abound. 
There grief is turned to pleafure — 

Such pleafure as below 
No human voice can utter, 

No human heart can know ; 
And after flefhly fcandal, 

And after this world's night, 
And after ftorm and whirlwind, 

Is calm, and joy, and light. 

16. 

And now we fight the battle, 

But then (hall wear the crown 
Of full and everlafting 

And paffionlefs renown : 
And now we watch and ftruggle, 



16 I'be Celeftial Country. 

And now we live in hope, 
And Syon, in her anguifh, 

With Babylon mult cope ; 
But He whom now we truft in 

Shall then be feen and known, 
And they that know and fee Him 

Shall have Him for their own. 

The miferable pleafures 

Of the body fhall decay ; 
The bland and flattering ftruggles 

Of the flefh fhall pafs away ; 
And none fhall there be jealous, 

And none fhall there contend ; 
Fraud, clamor, guile — what fay I ? 

All ill, all ill fhall end ! 

18. 

And there is David's Fountain, 
And life in fulleft glow ; 

And there the light is golden, 
And milk and honey flow — 



The Celejlial Country. 17 

The light that hath no evening, 
The health that hath no fore, 

The life that hath no ending, 
But lafteth evermore. 

19. 

There Jesus mall embrace us, 

There Jesus be embraced — 
That fpirit's food and funfhine 

Whence earthly love is chafed. 
Amidft the happy chorus, 

A place, however low, 
Shall fhew Him us, and mewing, 

Shall fatiate evermo. 

20. 

By hope we ftruggle onward : 

While here we muft be fed 
By milk, as tender infants, 

But there by Living Bread. 
The night was full of terror, 

The morn is bright with gladnefs ; 
The Crofs becomes our harbor, 

And we triumph after fadnefs. 



18 The Celefiial Country. 

21. 

And Jesus to His true ones 

Brings trophies fair to fee ; 
And Jesus mall be loved, and 

Beheld in Galilee — 
Beheld, when morn mail waken, 

And fhadows fhall decay, 
And each true-hearted fervant 

Shall mine as doth the day ; 
And every ear mall hear it — 

" Behold thy King's array , 
Behold thy God in beauty, 

The Law hath pafs'd away ! " 

22. 

Yes ! God my King and Portion, 

In fulnefs of (Thy) grace, 
We then mail fee for ever, 

And worfhip face to face. 
Then Jacob into Ifrael, 

From earthlier felf eftranged, 
And Leah into Rachel 

For ever mail be changed ; s 



'Tbe Celejlial Country. 19 

Then all the halls of Syon 

For aye mall be complete, 
And in the Land of Beauty, 

All things of beauty meet. 

2 3- 

For thee, O dear, dear Country ! 

Mine eyes their vigils keep y 
For very love, beholding 

Thy happy name, they weep. 
The mention of thy glory 

Is un&ion to the breaft, 
And medicine in ficknefs, 

And love, and life, and reft. 

24. 

O one, O onely Manfion ! 

O Paradife of Joy ! 
Where tears are ever banifhed, 

And fmiles have no alloy, 
Befide thy living waters 

All plants are, great and fmall, 
The cedar of the foreft, 



20 The Celeftlal Country. 

The hyflbp of the wall ; 
With jafpers glow thy bulwarks, 

Thy ftreets with emeralds blaze, 
The fardius and the topaz 

Unite in thee their ray's ; 
Thine agelefs walls are bonded 

With amethyft unpriced ; 
Thy Saints build up its fabric, 

And the corner-ftone is Christ. 6 



25. 

The Crofs is all thy fplendor, 

The Crucified thy praife ; 
His laud and benediction 

Thy ranfomed people raife : 
" Jesus, the Gem of Beauty, 

True God and Man" they fing, 
The never-failing Garden, 

The ever-golden Ring ; 
The Door, the Pledge, thi Hu/band, 

The Guardian of his Court j 
The Day-far of Salvation, 

The Porter and the Port /" 



u 



The Celefiial Country, 2} 

26. 

Thou hast no shore, fair ocean ! 

Thou hast no time, bright day ! 
Dear fountain of refreshment 

to pilgrims far away ! 
Upon the Rock of Ages 

They raise thy holy tower ; 
Thine is the victor's laurel, 

And thine the golden dower ! 

27. 

Thou feel'ft in myftic rapture, 

O Bride that know'ft no guile, 
The Prince's fweeteft kifles, 

The Prince's lovelieft fmile ; 
Unfading lilies, bracelets 

Of living pearl thine own ; 
The Lamb is ever near thee, 

The Bridegroom thine alone. 
The Crown is He to guerdon, 

The Buckler to protect, 
And He Himfelf the Manfion, 

And He the Architect. 



22 The Celefiial Country. 

28. 

The only art thou needeft — 

Thankfgiving for thy lot ; 
The only joy thou feekeft — 

The Life where Death is not. 
And all thine endlefs leifure, 

In fweeteft accents, fings 
The ill that was thy merit, 

The wealth that is thy King's ! 

29. 

Jerusalem the golden, 

With milk and honey blest, 
Beneath thy contemplation 

Sink heart and voice oppressed. 
i know not, o i know not, 

What social joys are there ! 
What radiancy of glory, 

What light beyond compare ! 

3°- 
And when I fain would fing them, 
My fpirit fails and faints ; 



^he Celefiial Country. 23 

And vainly would it image 
The aflembly of the Saints. 



3 1 - 

They stand, those halls of Syon, 

conjubilant with song, 
And bright with many an angel, 

And all the martyr throng ; 
The Prince is ever in them, 

The daylight is serene ; 
The pastures of the Blessed 

Are decked in glorious sheen. 



3 2 - 

There is the Throne of David, 

And there, from care released, 
The song of them that triumph, 

The shout of them that feast ; 
And they who, with their Leader, 

Have conquered in the fight, 
For ever and for ever 

Are clad in robes of white ! 7 



24 The Celejlial Country. 

33- 

O holy, placid harp-notes 

Of that eternal hymn ! 
O facred, fweet refection, 

And peace of Seraphim ! 
O thirft, for ever ardent, 

Yet evermore content 1 
O true peculiar vifion 

Of God cunctipotent ! 
Ye know the many manfions 

For many a glorious name, 
And divers retributions 

That divers merits claim ; 
For midft the conftellations 

That deck our earthlv iky, 
This ftar than that is brighter- 

And fo it is on high. 

34- 

Jerufalem the glorious ! 

The glory of the Elect ! 
O dear and future vifion 

That eager hearts expect ! 



The Celejiial Country. 2$ 

Even now by faith I fee thee, 
Even here thy walls difcern ; 

To thee my thoughts are kindled, 
And ftrive, and pant, and yearn. 

35- 

Jerufalem the onely, 

That look'ft from heaven below, 
In thee is all my glory, 

In me is all my woe ; 
And though my body may not, 

My fpirit feeks thee fain, 
Till flefh and earth return me 

To earth and flefh again. 

36- 

O none can tell thy bulwarks, 

How glorioufly they rife ! 
O none can tell thy capitals 

Of beautiful device ! 
Thy lovelinefs opprefles 

All human thought and heart ; 
And none, O peace, O Syon, 

Can fing thee as thou art ! 



26 TZv Celejlial Country. 

37- 

New manfion of new people, 

Whom God's own love and light 
Promote, increafe, make holy, 

Identify, unite ! 
Thou City of the Angels ! 

Thou City of the Lord ! 
Whofe everlafting mufic 

Is the glorious decachord ! 8 

38- 

And there the band of Prophets 

United praife afcribes, 
And there the twelvefold chorus 

Of Ifrael's ranfomed tribes, 
The lilv-beds of virgins, 

The rofes' martyr-glow, 
The cohort of the Fathers 

Who kept the Faith below. 

39- 
And there the Sole-Begotten 
Is Lord in regal ftate — 



^he Celefiial Country. 27 

He, Judah's myftic Lion, 

He, Lamb Immaculate. 
O fields that know no forrow ! 

O ftate that fears no ftrife ! 

princely bowers ! O land of flowers ! 

realm and home of Life ! 

40. 

Jerufalem, exulting 

On that fecureft more, 

1 hope thee, wifh thee, fing thee, 

And love thee evermore ! 
I afk not for my merit, 

1 feek not to deny 
My merit is definition, 

A child of wrath am I ; 
But yet with Faith I venture 

And Hope upon my way ; 
For thofe perennial guerdons 

I labor night and day. 

The beft and deareft Father, 
Who made me and who faved, 
3 



28 The Celeftial Country, 

Bore with me in defilement, 

And from defilement laved, 
When in His ftrength I ftruggle, 

For very joy I leap, 
When in my fin I totter, 

I weep, or try to weep : 
But grace, fweet grace celeftial, 

Shall all its love difplay, 
And David's Roval Fountain 

Purge every fin away. 

42. 

O mine, my golden Syon ! 

O lovelier far than gold, 
With laurel-girt battalions, 

And fafe victorious fold ! 
O fweet and bleffed Country, 

Shall I ever fee thy face ? 

fweet and blefTed Countrv, 
Shall I ever win thy grace ? 

1 have the hope within me 

To comfort and to blefs ! 
Shall I ever win the prize itfelf ? 
O tell me, tell me, Yes i 



"The Celefiial Country. 29 

43- 

Exult , O dujt and afhes ! 

The Lord Jhall be thy part ,• 
His only, His for ever, 

Thou Jhalt be, and thou art ! 
Exult, O duft and ajhes ! 

The Lord Jhall be thy part ; 
His only, His for ever, 

Thou Jhalt be, and thou art ! 9 



30 Hhe Celeftial Country. 




HORA NOVISSIMA. 

BERNARD OF CLUNI. 

ORA noviffima, tempora peflima funt,vigi- 
lemus. 

Ecce minaciter imminet arbiter ille fupremus. 
Imminet, imminet et mala terminet, aequa coro- 
net, 
Re£ta remuneret, anxia liberet, aethera donet, 
Auferat afpera duraque pondera mentes onuftae, 
Sobria mjuniat, improba puniat, utraque jufte. 

•k- x •* * * 

Hie breve vivitur, hie breve plangitur, hie breve 

fletur ; 
Non breve vivere, non breve plangere retri- 

buetur ; 
O retributio ! ftat brevis a&io, vita perennis ; 
O retributio ! ccelica manfio ftat lue plenis ; 
Quid datur et quibus ? aether egentibus et cruce 

dignis, 
Sidera vermibus, optima fontibus, aftra malignis. 



'The Celejiial Country. 31 

Sunt modo praelia, poftmodo praemia ; qualia ? 

plena, 
Plena refe&io, nullaque paffio, nullaque poena : 
Spe modo vivitur, et Syon angitur a Babylone ; 
Nunc tribulatio ; tunc recreatio, fceptra, corona? ; 
Tunc nova gloria pedtora fobria clarificabit, 
Solvet enigmata, veraque fabbata continuabit. 
Liber et hoftibus, et dominantibus ibit Hebraeus; 
Liber habebitur et celebrabitur hinc jubilaeus. 
Patria luminis, infcia turbinis, infcia litis, 
Cive replebitur, amplificabitur Ifraelitis ; 
Patria fplendida, terraque florida, libera fpinis, 
Danda fidelibus eft ibi civibus, hie peregrinis. 
Tunc erit omnibus infpicientibus ora Tonantis 
Summa potentia, plena fcientia, pax pia fandtis ; 
Pax fine crimine, pax fine turbine, pax fine rixa, 
Meta laboribus, atque tumultibus anchora fixa. 
Pars mea Rex meus, in proprio Deus ipfe decore 
Vifus amabitur, atque videbitur Auclor in ore. 
Tunc Jacob Ifrael, et Lia tunc Rachel efficietur, 
Tunc Syon atria pulcraque patria perficietur. 

O bona Patria, lumina fobria te fpeculantur, 
Ad tua nomina lumina fobria collacrymantur ; 



32 ^the Celejlial Country. 

Eft tua mentio pectoris un£tio, cura doloris, 
Concipientibus aethera mentibus ignis amoris. 
Tu locus unicus, illeque coelicus es paradifus, 
Non ibi lacryma, fed placidiffima gaudia, rifus. 
Eft ibi confita laurus, et infita cedrus hyfopo •, 
Sunt radiantia jafpide maenia, clara pyropo : 
Hinc tibi fardius, inde topazius, hinc amethyftus ; 
Eft tua fabrica concio coelica, gemmaque 

Chriftus. 
Tu fine littore, tu fine tempore, fons modo 

rivus, 
Dulce bonis fapis, eftque tibi lapis undique vivus. 
Eft tibi laurea, dos datur aurea, fponfa decora, 
Primaque Principis ofcula fufcipis, infpicis ora : 
Candida lilia, viva monilia funt tibi, Sponfa, 
Agnus adeft tibi, Sponfus adeft tibi, lux fpeciofa : 
Tota negocia, cantica dulcia dulce tonare, 
Tarn mala debita, quam bona praebita conju- 

bilare. 
Urbs Syon aurea, patrea ladtea, cive decora, 
Omne cor obruis, omnibus obftruis et cor et ora. 
Nefcio, nefcio, quae jubilatio, lux tibi qualis, 
Quam focialia gaudia, gloria quam fpecialis : 
Laude ftudens ea tollere, mens mea victa fatifcit : 



'The Celejlial Country. 33 

O bona gloria, vincor ; in omnia laus tua vicit. 
Sunt Syon atria conjubilantia, martyre plena, 
Cive micantia, Principe ftantia, luce ferena : 
Eft ibi pafcua, mitibus afflua, praeftita fan&is, 
Regis ibi thronus, agminis et fonus eft epulantis. 
Gens duce fplendida, concio Candida veftibus 

albis 
Sunt fine fletibus in Syon aedibus, aedibus almis \ 
Sunt fine crimine, funt fine turbine, funt fine 

lite 
In Syon aedibus editioribus Ifraelitae. 
Urbs Syon inclyta, gloria debita glorificandis, 
Tu bona vifibus interioribus intima pandis : 
Intima lumina, mentis acumina te fpeculantur, 
Pechora flammea fpe modo, poftea forte lucran- 

tur. 
Urbs Syon unica, manfio myftica, condita coelo, 
Nunc tibi gaudeo, nunc mihi lugeo, triftor, 

anhelo : 
Te quia corpore non queo, pecl:ore faepe penetro, 
Sed caro terrea, terraque 'carnea, mox cado 

retro . 
Nemo retexere, nemoque promere fuftinet ore, 
Quo tua mcenia, quo capitalia plena decore ; 



34 ^be Celefiial Country. 

Opprimit omne cor ille tuus decor, O Syon, O 

pax, 
Urbs fine tempore, nulla poteft fore laus tibi 

mendax ; 
O fine luxibus, O fine luc~tibus, O fine lite 
Splendida curia, florida patria, patria vitae ! 
Urbs Syon inclyta, turris et edita littore tuto, 
Te peto, te colo, te flagro, te volo, canto, fa- 

luto ; 
Nee mentis peto, nam mentis meto morte 

perire, 
Nee reticens tego, quod meritis ego filius irae ; 
Vita quidem mea, vita nimis rea, mortua vita, 
Quippe reatibus exitialibus obruta, trita. 
Spe tamen ambulo, praemia poftulo fpeque fide- 

que, 
Ilia perennia poftulo praemia nocle dieque. 
Me Pater optimus atque piiflimus ille creavit ; 
In lue pertulit, ex lue fuftulit, a lue lavit. 
Gratia ccelica fuftinet unica totius orbis, 
Parcere fordibus, interioribus uncrio morbis ; 
Diluit omina ccelica gratia, fons David undans 
Omnia diluit, omnibus affluit, omnia mundans ; 
O pia gratia, celfa palatia cernere praefta, 



Hbe Celefiial Country. 35 

CJt videam bona, feftaque confona, coelica fefta. 
O mea, fpes mea, tu Syon aurea, clarior auro, 
Agmine fplendida, ftans duce, florida perpete 

lauro, 
O bona patria, num tua gaudia teque videbo ? 
O bona patria, num tua praemia plena tenebo ? 
Die mihi, flagito, verbaque reddito, dicque, 

videbis. 
Spem folidam gero ; remne tenens ero ? die, 

Retinebis 
O facer, O pius, O ter et amplius ille beatus, 
Cui fua pars Deus, O mifer, O reus hac vidu- 

atus. IO 



36 Tbe Celefiial Country. 



NOTES. 



1 "Le furnom de Bernard varie en trois manieres dans les 
manufcrits. Les uns l'expriment par Morlanenfis qui Pit r eus 
rapporte a une ville d'Angleterre fans la defigner 5 les autres 
portent Morvalenfis, que Fabricius explique de la vallee de Mau- 
rienne j il en eft enfin ou Ton trouve Morlacenfis, qu'on peut 
appliquer ou a Morlaix en Bafle-Bretagne, ou a la Morlas dans 
le comte de Bigorre. Mais il eft certain, i°, que la feconde de- 
nomination eft la plus rare ; 2, , que les anciennes chartes em- 
ploient indifferemment les deux autres pour marquer un citoyen 
de la derniere ville, ce qui nous fait pencher a la regarder comme 
la vraie patrie de Bernard." — Hijioire Litt'eraire de la France. 

Dr. Neale fays that Bernard was " born at Morlaix in Bretagne, 
but of Englifh parents." Trench calls him "the contemporary 
and fellow-countryman of his more illuftrious namefake of 
Clairvaux." Pitfeus fimply fays, " Nationc Angliis, or dints S. 
Bcncdi&iy Monachus Cluniacenjis." 

2 In his introduction to " The Celeftial Country," Dr. Neale 
fays : — " I have here deviated from my ordinary rule of adopting 
the meafure of the original ; becaufe our language, if it could be 
tortured to any diftant refemblance of its rhythm, would utterly 
fail to give any idea of the majeftic fweetnefs of the Latin." — 
Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences. London, 2d Edition. 

I " As a contraft to the mifery and pollution of earth," fays 
Dr. Neale, " the poem [De Contemptu Mund'i\ opens with a de- 
fcription of the peace and glory of heaven, of fuch rare beauty 



The Celefiial Country. 37 

as not eafily to be matched by any mediaeval compofition on the 
fame fubject. Dean Trench, in his ' Sacred Latin Poetry,' gave 
a very beautiful cento of ninety-five lines from the work. From 
that cento I tranflated the larger part in the firft edition of the 
prefent book, following the arrangement of Dean Trench, and 
not that of Bernard. The great popularity which my translation, 
however inferior to the original, attained, is evinced by the very 
numerous hymns compiled from it, which have found their way 
into modern colle&ions ; fo that in fome fhape or other the 
Cluniac's verfes have become, as it were, naturalized among us. 
This led me to think that a fuller extract from the Latin, and a 
further tranflation into Englifh, might not be unacceptable to the 
lovers of facred poetry." 

" It would be moft unthankful did I not exprefs my gratitude 
to God for the favor He has given fome of the centos made from 
the poem, but efpecially Jerufalem the Golden. It has found a 
place in fome twenty hymnals j and for the laft two years it has 
hardly been pofiible to read any newfpaper, which gives promi- 
nence to ecclefiaftical news, without feeing its employment 
chronicled at fome dedication or other feftival. It is alfo a great 
favorite with diflenters, and has obtained admifilon to the Roman 
Catholic fervices. 'And I fay this,' to quote Bernard's own 
preface, ' in no wife arrogantly, but with all humility, and there- 
fore boldly.' 

" But more thankful ftill am I that the Cluniac's verfes mould 
have foothed the dying hours of many of God's fervants, the 
moft ftriking inftance, of which I know, is related in the 
memoir publifhed by Mr. Brownlow, under the title, A Little 
Child Jball lead them ; where he fays that the child of whom 
he writes, when fuffering agonies which the medical attendants 
declared to be almoft unparalleled, would lie without a murmur 
or motion, while the whole four hundred lines were read. 



38 Hhe Celejiial Country. 

" I have no hefitation in faying that I look on thefe verfes of 
Bernard as the moft lovely, in the fame way that the Dies Ira 
is the moft fublime, and the Stabat Mater the moft pathetic cf 
mediaeval poems. They are even fuperior to that glorious hymn 
on the fame fubjeel, the De Gloria ct Gaudiis Paradifi of St. 
Peter Damiani. For the fake of comparifon, I quote fome of 
the moft ftriking ftanzas of the latter, availing myfelf of the 
admirable tranflation of Mr. Wackerbarth (Med. Hymns, 2d 
Edition, London) : 

THE GLORY AND JOYS OF PARADISE. 

There nor waxing moon, nor waning 

Sun nor ftars in courfes bright $ 
For the Lamb to that glad city 

Shines an everlafting light : 
There the daylight beams for ever, 

All unknown are time and night. 

For the Saints, in beauty beaming, 

Shine in light and glory pure ; 
Crowned in triumph's flufhing honors, 

Joy in unifon fecure ; 
And in fafety tell their battles, 

And their foes' difcomfiture. 

Freed from every ftain of evil, 

All their carnal wars are done ; 
For the flefh made fpiritual 

And the foul agree in one ; 
Peace unbroken fpreads enjoyment, 

Sin and fcandal are unknown. 



*ihe Celeftial Country. 39 

Here they live in endlefs being j 

Pafiingnefs hath paffed away ; 
Here they bloom, they thrive, they flourifh, 

For decayed is all decay : 
Lafting energy hath fwallowed 

Darkling death's malignant fway. 

Though each one's refpective merit 

Hath its varying palm afligned, 
Love takes all as his pofleflion, 

Where his power hath all combined ; 
So that all that each pofTefles 

All partake in unconfined. 

Christ, Thy foldiers' palm of honor, 

Unto this Thy city free 
Lead me when my warfare's girdle 

I fhall caft away from me — 
A partaker in Thy bounty 

With Thy bleffed ones to be. 

Grant me vigor, while I labor 

In the ceafelefs battle prefled, 
That Thou mayft, the conflict over, 

Grant me everlafting reft j 
And I may at length inherit 

Thee, my portion ever bleft." 

" Archdeacon Trench fays very well, after referring to the 
Ode of Cafimir (the great Latin poet of Poland), Urit me 
Patride decor, that both ' turn upon the fame theme, the heav- 
enly home-ficknefs ; but with all the claflical beauty of the Ode, 



40 Hhe Celefiial Country. 

and it is great, who does not feel that the poor Cluniac monk's 
is the more real and deep utterance ?' 

" The Ode, however, is well worthy of a tranflation, and here 
is an attempt : 

IT KINDLES ALL MY SOUL. 

It kindles all my foul, 
My Country's lovelinefs ! Thofe ftarry choirs 

That watch around the pole, 
And the moon's tender light, and heavenly fires 

Through golden halls that roll. 
O chorus of the night ! O planets, fworn 

The mufic of the fpheres 
To follow ! Lovely watchers, that think fcorn 

To reft till day appears ! 
Me, for celeftial homes of glory born, 

Why here, oh why fo long, 
Do ye behold an exile from on high ? 

Here, O ye mining throng, 
With lilies fpread the mound where I fhall lie : 

Here let me drop my chain, 
And duft to duft returning, caft away 

The trammels that remain ; 
The reft of me fhall fpring to endlefs day !" 

4 Thefe two lines are taken from the laft London edition. 
In fome editions they are thus given : 

" And the perfect from the mattered, 

And the fallen from them that ftand." 

5 " Leah and Rachel are allegorized in three different ways by 
mediaeval poets. Firft, of the active and contemplative life ; and 



^he Celefiial Country. 41 

thence alfo, by an eafy tranfition, to the toil we endure on earth, 
and the eternal contemplation of God's glory in Heaven as here. 
So again, in a fine but rugged profe in the Nuremberg Miflal 
for St. Jerome's Day : 

Then, when all carnal ftrife hath ceafed, 
And we from warfare are releafed, 
O grant us in that Heavenly Feafr 

To fee Thee as Thou art : 
To Leah give, the battle won, 

Her Rachel's dearer heart ; 
To Martha, when the ftrife is done, 

Her Mary's better part. 

"The parallel fymbol of Martha and Mary is, however, in 
this fenfe far more common, and is even found in epitaphs, as 
in that of Gundreda de Warren, daughter of William the Con- 
queror : 

A Martha to the houfelefs poor, a Mary in her love j 

And though her Martha's part be gone, her Mary's lives above. 

" Bernard, in the paflage we are confidering, has a double pro- 
priety in the changes of which he fpeaks. Ifrael, according to 
St. Auguftine's rendering, means, He that beholds God ; Rachel, 
according to the unwarrantable mediaeval explanation, That be- 
holds the Beginning, i. <?., Christ. Thus, the change fpoken of 
is from earth to the Beatific Vifion ; and has a reference alfo to 
the New Name and White Stone of the Apocalypfe. 

" The fecond allegory of Leah and Rachel expounds them of 
the Synagogue and the Church ; the third makes them to repre- 
fent earthly affliction patiently endured," — Mcdia<val Hymns. 
2d Edition. 



42 . The Celeftial Country. 

6 "It is not without a deep myftical meaning that thefe 
ftones are felected by the poet. 

"The twelve foundation ftones of the Apocalypfe gave rife, 
as might be expected, to an infinite variety of myftical interpre- 
tations. ' Jafper,' fays the comment of Marbodus, 'is the firft 
foundation of the Church of God, and is of a green color.' 'It 
fignifies thofe who always hold the Faith of God and never depart 
from it, or wither, but are always fiourifhing therein, and fear 
not the afTaults of the devil.' 'The emerald is exceeding green, 
furpafiing all gems and herbs in greennefs.' ' By the emerald we 
underftand thofe who excel others in the vigor of their faith, and 
dwell among infidels who be frigid and arid in their love.' ' The 
fardius, which is wholly red, fignifies the martyrs who pour forth 
their blood for Christ.' ' The topaz is rare, and therefore pre- 
cious. It has two colors, one like gold, the other clearer. In 
clearnefs it furpaffes all gems, and nothing is more beautiful. It 
fignifies thofe who love God and their neighbor. ' ' The amethyft 
is entirely red, and fhoots out rofy flames. Its color fignifies 
earthly fuffering; its emiffions, prayers for thofe that caufe it.'" 
— Media-val Hymns, ad Edition. 

7 Thefe ftanzas are evidently confidered by Dr. Neale his beft. 
See page 37. In deference to that opinion, they are given here in 
the form in which they appear in the laft edition of Mcdiaval 
Hymns. 

S " Decachord, with reference to the myftical explanation, which, 
feeing in the number ten a type of perfection, understands the 
' inftrument of ten firings' of the perfect harmony of heaven." 

9 " I have been fo often afked to what tune the words of Ber- 
nard may be fung, that I may here mention that of Mr. Ewing, 
the earlieft written, the beft known, and with children the moft 



^he Celefiial Country, 43 

popular ; that of my friend, the Rev. H. L. Jenner, perhaps the 
moft ecclefiaftical j and that of another friend, Mr. Edmund 
Sedding, which, to my mind, beft expreffes the meaning of the 
words." — Mediaval Hymns, ad Edition. 

10 No copy of De Contemptu Mundi is known to be in the 
United States, and hence the extract given is only the cento from 
Trench's Sacred Latin Poetry^ preceded by the firft fix lines of 
the poem. It is the part firft tranflated by Dr. Neale, beginning 
at the line, "Brief life is here our portion." 

NOTE, that in this edition of The Celejiial Country thefe 
changes have been made : 

I ft. The poem has been divided into irregular ftanzas. This 
change of form is partly for the convenience of thofe who love 
to refer and re-refer to favorite paffages ; partly to enable chil- 
dren readily to fele£t. from it ftanzas to be learned or fung ; but 
chiefly to render its intermingling fentences more clear to thofe 
who have not become familiar with its conftrudtion. 

2d. The punctuation has been materially remodelled and 
changed. 

3d. The author's text has been altered in three inftances, where- 
in the errors corrected feem manifestly flips of the pen or blunders 
of the compofitor, viz., in the ninth ftanza, line fourteen, "thofe" 
is fubftituted for "them;" in the twenty-fecond ftanza, line two, 
"Thy" is fubftituted for "His," and in the forty-firft ftanza, line 
nine, "But" is fubftituted for <f And." 
4 



44 tte Dies Ira. 



THE DIES IR^E. 



A FRANCISCAN monk named Thomas, 
born near the beginning of the thirteenth 
century, at Celano,a Neapolitan village, achieved 
fome reputation in his time as the friend and 
biographer of St. Francis de Affifi, founder of 
the Order of Minorites. About the year 1250, as 
is fuppofed, he wrote a brief lyric, which, reach- 
ing above and beyond his creed and time, has 
entered in fome form into the worfhjp of every 
Chriftian people. In the Romifh Burial Ser- 
vice it forms the Sequence for the Dead, and is 
fung with folemn majefty at the great Sixtine 
Chapel, while portions of it enter into the praife 
or meditations of nearly " all who profefs and 
call themfelves Chriftians." So that, becoming 
more highly efteemed, and more generally known 
with each century of its long hiftory, it is at the 
prefent time both fung at Rome and approved 
by all Proteftant Chriftendom. 



*tbe Dies Ira. 45 

A long lift might be framed of the great who 
have avowed for it a fupreme admiration, ex- 
celling that yielded to any other compofition of 
its kind. And fuch a roll would contain the 
names of men of different countries as of dif- 
ferent creeds ; of foldiers, ftatefmen and poets ; 
of hiftorians, Churchmen, and compofers, upon 
whofe lips it has hovered, and in whofe works 
it has been engraved. Mozart, Haydn, Goethe, 
Schlegel, Johnfon, Dryden, Scott, Milman, and 
Jeremy Taylor would be among thefe names. 

This lyric, which is the greateft of hymns, 
neverthelefs is caft in the fimpleft of forms. 
Beginning with an exclamation from the Scrip- 
tures, it continues through its few ftanzas the 
addrefs of a fingle aclior upon a fingle fubjecl:. 
Its meafure could not be more artlefs, nor its 
ftanzas more fimple. The auguft language in 
which it is clothed, it has bent into the form of 
rhyme, and this rhyme is of a kind which is 
faid to be wanting in dignity, and better adapt- 
ed to comic than to elevated verfe. Yet it 
commands the homage of the Englifhman, the 
German, the Italian, and the modern Greek ; 



46 The Dies Ira, 

and even pofTeffes fo ftrange a gift of fafcination, 
a gift in which no other compofition equals and 
but one other approaches it, that the very found 
of its words will allure him who is ignorant of 
their meaning. 

This marvellous power cannot be meafured 
and defined, yet a diftinguifhed American cler- 
gyman has thus clofely analyzed it : " Com- 
" bining fomewhat of the rhythm of claffical 
" Latin, with the rhymes of the mediaeval Latin, 
" treating of a theme full of awful fublimity, and 
u grouping together the moft ftartling imagery of 
ct Scripture as to the laft Judgment, and throwing 
" this into yet ftronger relief by the barbaric fim- 
" plicity of the ftyle in which it is fet, and adding 
" to all thefe its full and trumpet-like cadences, 
" and uniting with the impaffioned feelings of the 
" South, whence it emanated, the gravity of the 
" North, whofe feverer ftyle it adopted." — Dr. 
W. R. Williams. 

The Great Hymn has ever allured and eluded 
tranflators. Its apparent artleflhefs and fim- 
plicity indicate that it can be turned readily into 
another language, but its fecret power refufes to 



The Dies Ira. 47 

be thus transferred. A German theologian 
(Lifco, Berlin, 1843) nas c °U e & e d and pub- 
lifhed eighty-feven verfions, nearly all of which 
are in the German. In our Englifh tongue the 
tafk of rendering the Latin into verfe of the 
fame meafure is more difficult, and fome of our 
tranflators have fought to reproduce the form, 
and others to preferve the power of the original. 
The reader of Scott will remember with what 
ftrength a few ftanzas burft on us in the firft 
reading of u The Lay." In form and meaning 
they hardly claim the name of. a tranflation, yet 
they have caught the fpirit of the hymn with a 
vividnefs that nothing in our language equals. 

The mafs was fung, and prayers were faid, 
And folemn requiem for the dead ; 
And bells toll'd out their mighty peal, 
For the departed fpirit's weal ; 
And ever in the office clofe 
The hymn of interceffion rofe ; 
And far the echoing aides prolong 
The awful burden of the fong — 
Dies IrtiE, Dies Illa ! 

SoLVET SiECLUM IN FAVILLA ; 



48 tfhe Dies Ira. 

While the pealing organ rung ; 
Were it meet with facred ftrain 
To clofe my lay fo light and vain, 

Thus the holy Fathers fung : 



That day of wrath, that dreadful day ! 
When heaven and earth fhall pafs away, 
What power fhall be the tinner's flay ? 
How fhall he meet that dreadful day ? 

When fhrivelling like a parched fcroll 
The flaming heavens together roll ; 
When louder yet, and yet more dread, 
Swells the high trump that wakes the dead 

Oh ! on that day, that wrathful day 
When man to judgment wakes from clay, 
Be Thou the trembling finner's ftay, 
Though heaven and earth fhall pafs away ! 



tfbe Dies lr<z. 49 

I. 

The eftablifhed verfion of the hymn is 
known as that of Paris. It differs in but one 
line from that of Rome, which has for the third 
line of the firft ftanza, Crucis expandens vexilla. 

There have been ftanzas prefixed to the hymn 
and others added ; but, in its great ftrength, it 
has fhaken off all fuch fpurious additions. A 
marble flab in the Church of St. Francis, at 
Mantua, bore a copy of the hymn prefaced 
by five ftanzas, which many fcholars have 
thought, from the great age of the church, 
authentic. But the church is a century younger 
than the hymn, and thefe ftanzas condemn 
themfelves : 

Dies ilia, dies iras 

Quam conemur praevenire, 

Obveamque Deo irae. 

The inverfion of the Scriptural text, the 
poverty of the rhyme, and the weaknefs of the 
thought, are not faults of the Dies Irje. Its 
author undoubtedly took the quotation from 
Zephaniah as a text, and placed it at the head 



50 Hbe Dies Ira. 

of his compofition ; and the inverfion, " Dies ilia, 
dies irce" is the play upon words to which an 
imitator alone would refort. 



II. 



The author of the firft tranflation given in 
this volume, in a preface to his work, fays : 

" A production univerfally acknowledged to 
' have no fuperior of its class mould be as lit— 
c erally rendered as the ftructure of the lan- 
i guage into which it is tranflated will admit. 
c Moreover, no tranflation can be complete 
1 which does not conform to the original in its 
c rhythmic quantities. The mufic of the Dies 
c iRiE is as old as the hymn, if not older; and 
c with thofe who are familiar with both, they 
1 are infeparably connected in thought. To 
c fatisfy the exactions of fuch minds, the ca- 
c dences muft. be the fame." 

In this endeavor the author has fo well fuc- 
ceeded, that when this verfion is compared 
ftanza by ftanza with the original, it will be 
found to be in the fame trochaic meafure, in the 



tfbe Dies Ira. 51 

fame difficult double rhyme, in ftanzas of the 
fame triplicate conftruclion, and, with fewefr. 
errors, to be as a tranflation the moft literal and 
juft that has been made. Yet this fuccefs in 
letters was achieved by a foldier, during the 
gloomieft period of a great and diffracting war. 
The author is Major-General John A. Dix, 
U. S. V., and the tranflation was made at 
Fortrefs Monroe, in the fecond year of the 
Rebellion. 



III. 



The interne power of the Great Hymn is 
alfo exemplified in the different renderings which 
have been made by the fame author. Dr. Abra- 
ham Coles, an American phyfician, has per- 
formed indeed the remarkable talk of making 
thirteen different verfions j fix of which are in 
the trochaic meafure and double rhyme of the 
hymn, and all are fufficiently diftincT: and origi- 
nal to form the creditable work of thirteen 
different men. This verfion is the firft of Dr. 
Coles. 



5 2 Tbe Dies Ira. 

IV. 

The next verfion is the eleventh of Dr. 
Coles. It is in fingle rhyme and iambic verfe, 
and therein differs from the original. 

V. 

This verfion is by that nobleman of whom 
Pope has written : 

"Such was Rofcommon, not more learned than good, 
Of manners generous as his noble blood : 
To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known, 
And every author's merit but his own." 

And of whom Dryden has confeffed : 



u 



" It was my Lord Rofcommon's effay on 
tranflated verfe which made me uneafy till I 
u tried whether or no I was capable of follow- 
" ing his rules, and of reducing the fpeculation 
" into practice." 

And of whom Johnfon has recorded : 

" At the moment in which he expired, he 
" uttered, with an energv of voice thr* exprefled 



^he Dies Ira. 53 

" the moft fervent devotion, two lines of his 
" own verfion of Dies Ir^e : 

* My God, my Father, and my Friend, 
Do not forfake me in my end.' " 

In the beautiful fervor of its devotion, Rof- 
common's excels all other translations, but its 
verfe is not that of the Dies Ir^. 



VI, 

Crafhaw, the contemporary of Herbert, and 
friend of Cowley, is the author of this verfion. 
It is the olden 1 in our language (1646), though 
there is a weak paraphrafe by Drummond of 
Hawthornden, beginning : 

Ah, filly foul ! what wilt thou fay 
When He, whom heaven and earth obey, 
Comes man to judge in the laft day ! 

No tranflation furpafTes Crafhaw's in ftrength, 
but the form of his ftanza and the meafure of 
his verfe are leaft like thofe of the original. 



54 ^he Dies Ira. 

VII. 

The verfion of Dr. W. J. Irons may be re- 
garded as the accepted verfion of the prefent 
day in Great Britain, and is the one felecled by 
the Hymnal Noted. It is in the double rhvme 
and meafure of the original, and parts of it bear 
a ftrikino- refemblance to the i\merican verfion 

O 

of General Dix. But a much more curious 
coincidence in conception, with an abfolute iden- 
tity of language in many parts, exifts in the un- 
publifhed verfion of an accomplifhed tranflator 
(Mr. A. Peries, of Philadelphia), wherein feveral 
ftanzas differ but little from thofe of General 
Dix. The eleventh ftands as follows : 

u Righteous Judge of retribution, 
Grant us finners abfolution 
Ere the day of diflblution !" 

VIII. 

It is a notable fact, in the hiftory of the 
Dies IitiE, that the beft Englifh tranflations 
which we poffefs are not the work of our 



¥be Dies lr<z. 55 

great poets. A recent verfion, which 10 capable 
and accomplifhed a critic as Mr. Prime pro- 
nounces to be " in many refpe&s the beft Eng- 
lifh verfion hitherto produced, and peculiarly 
valuable for thofe who do not read the Latin, 
and who defire to gain fome idea of the power 
and beauty of this moft celebrated hymn of the 
Church," alio illuftrates this remarkable fact. 
The author is Edward SlofTon, Efq., of the bar 
of New York. 

And in this connection it may be obferved, 
that even fo accomplifhed a mafter in profe and 
verfe as Macaulay has fucceeded no better in 
the difficult tafk than is mown by his verfion 
written for the London Ghrijlian Obferver in 
1826, beginning — 

" On that great, that awful day, 
This vain world fhall pafs away. 
Thus the Sibyl fang of old ; 
Thus hath holy David told. 
There fhall be a deadly fear 
When the Avenger fhall appear} 
And, unveiled before his eye, 
All the works of men fhall lie." 



50 The Dies Ira, 



I. 

THOMAS DE CELANO. 

Dies ir^e, dies illa, dies tribulationis et anguftiae, dies calam^ 
itatis et miferiae, dies tenebrarum et caliginis, dies nebulae et 
turbinis, dies tubae et clangoris fuper civitatis munitas, et fuper 
angulos excelfos ! — Sopkonia, i. 15, 16. 

I. 

jIES IRiE, DIES ILLA ! 

Solvet faeclum in favilla, 
Tefte David cum Sybilla. 

11. 

Quantus tremor eft futurus, 
Quando Judex eft venturus, 
Cuncta ftricte difcuflurus. 

in. 

Tuba mirum fpargens fonum 
Per fepulcra regionum, 
Coget omnes ante thronum. 




'The Dies Ira. 57 



II. 

GENERAL DIX. 

That day, a day of wrath, a day of trouble and dijlrefs, a 
day of ivafenefs and defolation, a day of darknefs and gloominefs f 
a day of clouds and thick darknefs, a day of the trumpet and alarm 
againji the fenced cities, and againjl the high towers ! — Zeph- 

ANIAH, 1. 15, l6. 

I. 

DAY of vengeance, without morrow ! 
Earth fhall end in flame and forrow, 
As from Saint and Seer we borrow. 

2. 

Ah ! what terror is impending, 
When the Judge is feen defcending, 
And each fecret veil is rending. 

3- 
To the throne, the trumpet founding, 
Through the fepulchres refounding, 
Summons all, with voice aftounding. 



58 The Dies Ira. 



IV. 



Mors ftupebit, et natura, 
Quum refurget creatura, 
Judicanti refponfura. 



v. 



Liber fcriptus proferetur, 
In quo totum continetur, 
Unde mundus judicetur. 



VI. 



Judex ergo cum fedebit, 
Quidquid latet, apparebit 
Nil inultum remanebit. 



VII. 



Quid fum, mifer ! tunc didhirus, 
Quern patronum rogaturus, 
Quum vix juftus fit fecurus ? 



~The Dies Ira. <g 



Death and Nature, mazed, are quaking, 
When, the grave's long {lumber breaking, 
Man to judgment is awaking. 



On the written Volume's pages, 
Life is mown in all its ftages — 
Judgment-record of paft ages ! 

6. 

Sits the Judge, the raifed arraigning, 
Darkeft myfteries explaining, 
Nothing unavenged remaining. 



What mall I then fay, unfriended, 

By no advocate attended, 

When the juft are fcarce defended ? 



Co TZv Dies Tr*. 



VIII. 



Rex tremendae majeftatis, 
Qui falvandos falvas gratis, 
Salva me, fons pietatis ! 



IX. 



Recordare, Jefu pie, 
Quod ium caufa tuae viae ; 
Ne me perdas ilia die ! 



x. 



Quaerens.me, fedifti laflus, 
Redemifti, crucem paflus : 
Tantus labor non fit caflus. 



XI. 



Jufte Judex ultionis, 
Donum fac remiffionis 
Ante diem rationis. 



The Dies Ira. 61 

8. 



King of majefty tremendous, 
By Thy faving grace defend us, 
Fount of pity, fafety fend us ! 



Holy Jesus, meek, forbearing, 

For my fins the death-crown wearing, 

Save me, in that day, defpairing. 



10. 



Worn and weary, Thou haft fought me ; 
By Thy crofs and paflion bought me — 
Spare the hope Thy labors brought me. 



11. 



Righteous Judge of retribution, 
Give, O give me abfolution 
Ere the day of diflblution. 
5 



62 TZv Dies Ira. 



XII. 



Ingemifco tanquam reus, 
Culpa rubet vultus meus 
Supplicant! parce, Deus ! 



XIII. 



Qui Mariam abfolvifti, 
Et latronem exaudifti, 
Mihi quoque fpem dedifti. 



XIV. 



Preces meae non funt dignae, 
Sed Tu bonus fac benigne 
Ne perenni cremer igne ! 



xv. 



Inter oves locum praefta, 
Et ab haedis me fequeftra, 
Statuens in parte dextra. 



The Dies Ira. 63 

12. 

As a guilty culprit groaning, 
Flufhed my face, my errors owning, 
Hear, O God, my fpirit's moaning ! 

r 3- 

Thou to Mary gav'ft remiffion, 
Heard'ft the dying thief's petition, 
Bad'ft me hope in my contrition. 

14. 

In my prayers no grace difcerning, 
Yet on me Thy favor turning, 
Save my foul from endlefs burning. 

15- 

Give me, when Thy meep confiding 
Thou art from the goats dividing, 
On Thy right a place abiding ! 



64 tfhe Dies Ira. 



XVI. 



Confutatis maledi&is, 
Flammis acribus addictis, 
Voca me cum benedi£t.is 



XVII. 



Oro fupplex et acclinis, 
Cor contritum quafi cinis 5 
Gere curam mei finis. 



XVIII. 



Lacrymofa dies ilia ! 
Qua refurget ex favilla. 
Judicandus homo reus ; 
Huic ergo parce, Deus ! 



Hhe Dies Ira. 65 

16. 

When the wicked are confounded, 
And by bitter flames furrounded, 
Be my joyful pardon founded ! 

17- 

Proftrate, all my guilt difcerning, 
Heart as though to allies turning ; 
Save, O fave me from the burning f 

18. 

Day of weeping, when from afhes 
Man mail rife mid lightning flames, 
Guilty, trembling with contrition, 
Save him, Father, from perdition ! 



66 ^he Dies Ira. 



III. 



DR. COLES. 



I. 



PXAY of wrath, that day of burning, 
-*— " Seer and fibyl fpeak concerning, 
All the world to afhes turning. 



2. 



Oh, what fear fhall it engender, 
When the Judge fhall come in lpiendor, 
StricT: to mark and juft to render. 



Trumpet fcattering founds of wonder, 
Rending fepulchres afunder, 
Shall refiftlefs fummons thunder. 



<The Dies Ira. 67 



IV. 



DR. COLES. 



I. 



DAY of wrath, that day of dole, 
When a fire fhall wrap the whole, 
And the earth be burnt to coal ! 



2. 



O, what horror fmiting dumb 
When the Judge of all fhall come, 
Sinful deeds to fearch and fum ! 



Trump's reverberating roar 
Through the fepulchres fhall pour, 
Citing all the Throne before. 



68 "The Dies Ira. 



All aghaft then Death fhall fhiver, 
And great Nature's frame {hall quiver, 
When the graves their dead deliver. 



Book where actions are recorded, 

All the ages have afforded 

Shall be brought, and dooms awarded. 

6. 

When fhall fit the Judge unerring, 
He'll unfold all here occurring, 
No juft vengeance then deferring. 



What fhall I fay, that time pending ? 
Afk what advocate's befriending, 
When the juft man needs defending ? 



tfhe Dies Ira. 69 



Death and Nature ftand aghaft, 
While the dead, in numbers vaft, 
Rife to anfwer for the paft. 



Volume writ by God's own pen, 
Chronicling the deeds of men, 
Shall be brought, and dooms be then. 

6. 

When the Judge fhall fit, behold ! 
What is fecret He'll unfold, 
No juft punifhment withhold. 



Ah ! what plea fhall I prepare, 
To what Patron make my prayer, 
When the juft well-nigh defpair ? 



7° ¥be Dies Ira. 

8. 

Dreadful King, all power pofTeffing, 

Saving freely thofe confefling, 

Save Thou me, O Fount of Blefling ! 

9- 

Think, O Jesus, for what reafon 
Thou didft bear earth's fpite and treafon, 
Nor me lofe in that dread feafon ! 



10. 

Seeking me Thy worn feet hafted, 
On the crofs Thy foul death tafted 
Let fuch travail not be wafted ! 



ii. 

Righteous Judge of retribution ! 
Make me gift of abfolution 
Ere that dav of execution ! 



^he Dies Ira. I 1 

8. 

King majeftic beyond thought, 
Whofe free grace cannot be bought, 
Save me, whofe defert is naught ! 

9- 

O remember, Jesus, I 

Was the caufe and reafon why 

Thou didft come on earth to die ! 



10. 

Me Thou fought'ft with weary feet, 
And my ranfom didft complete : 
Let fuch pity naught defeat ! 



ii. 

Judge inflexible and ftricl:, 
Pardon, ere that day convicl:, 
And th' unchanging doom inflicl: ! 



7 2 The Dies Ira. 



12. 



Culprit-like I plead, heart-broken, 
On my cheek fhame's crimfon token 
Let the pardoning word be fpoken ! 

x 3- 

Thou who Mary gav'ft remiffion, 
Heard'ft the dying thief's petition, 
Cheer'ft with hope my loft condition.' 



14. 

Though my prayers be void of merit, 
What is needful, Thou confer it, 
Left I endlefs fire inherit ! 



15. 

Be there, Lord, my place decided 
With Thy fheep, from goats divided, 
Kindly to Thy right hand guided ! 



Hhe Dies Ira. 7? 

12. 

Like a criminal I figh, 
Blufhing, penitently cry : 
Pafs, Lord, my offences by ! 

x 3- 

Thou, who Mary erft didft blefs, 
Heard'ft the thief in his diftrefs j 
Hope has given me no lefs. 

14. 

Worthlefs are my prayers and vain^ 
But in love do not difdain, 
Left I reap eternal pain ! 



15. 

On Thy right hand grant me place 
Mid the fheep, a chofen race — 
Far from goats devoid of grace ! 



74 ^the Dies Ira. 

16. 

When th' accurfed away are driven, 

To eternal burnings given, 

Call me with the bleffed to heaven ! 



I 7- 

I befeech Thee, proftrate lying, 
Heart as afhes, contrite, fighing, 
Care for me when I am dying ! 

18. 

Day of tears and late repentance, 
Man mall rife to hear his fentence : 
Him, the child of guilt and error, 
Spare, Lord, in that hour of terror ! 



The Dies Ira. 75 

16. 

When the thunder of Thine ire 
Headlong hurls to quenchlefs fire, 
Let Thy welcome me infpire ! 

*7- 

I entreat Thee, bending low, 
Heart as allies, full of woe, 
Succor in mine end bellow ! 

1 8. 

When upon that day of tears 
Man from dull again appears, 
Fate depending on Thy nod : 
Spare the finner then, O God ! 



76 The Dies Ira. 



V. 



EARL ROSCOMMON. 
I. 

' I ^HE day of wrath, that dreadful day, 
-*• Shall the whole world in afhes lay, 
As David and the Sibyls fay. 

2. 

What horror will invade the mind 

When the ftricl: Judge, who would be kind, 

Shall have few venial faults to find. 

3- 
The laft loud trumpet's wondrous found 
Shall through the rending tombs rebound, 
And wake the nations under ground. 



T/:e Dies Ira. 77 



VI. 



RICHARD CRASHAW 
I. 

HE AR'ST thou, my foul, what ferious things 
Both the Pfalm and Sibyl fings 
Of a fure Judge, from whofe fharp ray 
The world in flames fhall fly away ! 

2. 

O that Fire ! before whofe face 
Heaven and earth fhall find no place : 
O thofe Eyes S whofe angry light 
Muft be the day of that dread night. 

3- 

O that Trump ! whofe blafl fhall run 

An even round with th' circling Sun, 

And urge the murmuring graves to bring 

Pale mankind forth to meet his King. 
6 



78 'The Dies Ira. 

4~ 
Nature and death fhall with furprife 
Behold the pale offender rife, 
And view the Judge with confcious eyes. 

5- 
Then fhall, with univerfal dread, 
The facred, myftic book be read 
To try the living and the dead. 

6. 

The Judge afcends His awful throne 5 
He makes each fecret fin be known, 
And all with fhame confefs their own. 



7- 

O then, what intereft fhall I make 

To fave my laft important ftake 

When the moft juft have caufe to quake ! 



Tbe Dies Ira. 79 

4- 

Horror of Nature, Hell, and Death ! 
When a deep groan from beneath 
Shall cry, " We come, we come !" and all 
The caves of night anfwer one call. 

O that book ! whofe leaves fo bright 
Will fet the world in fevere light. 
O that Judge ! whofe hand, whofe eye 
None can endure, yet none can fly. 

6. 

Ah then, poor foul ! what wilt thou fay ? 
And to what patron choofe to pray, 
When ftars themfelves fhall ftagger, and 
The moft firm foot no more fhall ftand ? 

7- 
But Thou giv'ft leave, dread Lord, that we 
Take fhelter from Thyfelf in Thee ; 
And with the wings of Thine own dove 
Fly to Thy fceptre of foft love ! 



80 <fbe Dies Ira. 

8. 

Thou mighty, formidable King ! 
Thou mercy's unexhaufted fpring, 
Some comfortable pity bring ! 



9- 
Forget not what my ranfom coft ; 
Nor let my dear-bought foul be loft, 
In ftorms of guilty terrors toft. 

10. 

Thou who for me didft feel fuch pain, 
Whofe precious blood the crofs did ftain, 
Let not thefe agonies be vain ! 

ii. 

Thou whom avenging powers obey, 
Cancel my debt, too great to pay, 
Before the fad accounting day ! 



The Dies Ira. 8l 



8. 



Dear [Lord], remember in that day 
Who was the caufe Thou cam'ft this way ; 
Thy fheep was ftrayed, and Thou wouldft be 
Even loft Thyfelf in feeking me ! 

9- 

Shall all that labor, all that coft 
Of love, and even that lofs, be loft ? 
And this loved foul judged worth no IWs 
Than all that way and wearinefs ? 

10. 

Juft Mercy, then, Thy reckoning be 
With my price, and not with me ; 
'Twas paid at firft with too much pain 
To be paid twice, or once in vain. 

ii. 

Mercy, my Judge, mercy I cry, 
With blufhing cheek and bleeding eye ; 
The confcious colors of my fin 
Are red without, and pale within. 



82 T;be Dies Ira. 

12. 

Surrounded with amazing fears, 
Whofe load my foul with anguifh bears, 
I figh, I weep ! accept my tears ! 

Thou who wert moved with Mary's grief, 

And by abfolving of the thief 

Haft given me hope, now give relief! 

14. 

Reject not my unworthy prayer ; 
Preferve me from the dangerous fnare 
Which death and gaping hell prepare. 

15. 

Give my exalted foul a place 
Among Thy chofen right-hand race, 
The fons of God and heirs of grace. 



The Dies Ira. 83 

12. 

O let Thine own foft bowels pay 
Thyfelf, and fo difcharge that day ! 
If Sin can figh, Love can forgive, 
O, fay the word, my foul mall live ! 

Thofe mercies which Thy Mary found, 
Or who Thy crofs confefs'd and crowned, 
Hope tells my heart the fame loves be 
Still alive, and ftill for me. 

14. 

Though both my prayers and tears combine, 
Both worthlefs are, for they are mine ; 
But Thou Thy bounteous felf ftill be, 
And mow Thou art by faving me. 

15. 

O when Thy laft frown fhall proclaim 
The flocks of goats to folds of flame, 
And all Thy loft fheep found fhall be, 
Let " Come ye bleiTed " then call me ! 



84 "The Dies Ira. 

16. 

From that infatiable abyfs, 

Where flames devour and ferpents hifs, 

Promote me to thy feat of blifs. 

J 7- 

Proftrate my contrite heart I rend, 
My God, my Father, and my Friend : 
Do not forfake me in my end ! 

18. 

Well may they curfe their fecond breath 
Who rife to a reviving death : 
Thou great Creator of mankind, 
Let guilty man companion find ! 



The Dies Ira. 85 

16. 

When the dread " ITE " fhall divide 
Thofe limbs of death from Thy left fide, 
Let thofe life-fpeaking lips command 
That I inherit Thy right hand ! 

O, hear a fuppliant heart all crufh'd, 
And crumbled into contrite duft ! 
My hope, my fear — my Judge, my Friend ! 
Take charge of me, and of my end ! 



86 ^he Dies Ira. 



VII. 



DR. IRONS. 



I. 



DAY of Wrath ! O Day of mourning ! 
See ! once more the Crofs returning, 
Heav'n and earth in afhes burning ! 



2. 



O what fear man's bofom rendeth, 
When from Heav'n the Judge defcendeth, 
On whofe fentence all dependeth ! 



Wondrous found the Trumpet flingeth, 
Through earth's fepulchres it ringeth, 
All before the throne it bringeth ! 



The 'Dies Ira, 87 



VIII. 



MR. SLOSSON. 



I. 



DAY of wrath ! of days That Day 
Earth in flames fhall melt away, 
Pfalmift thus and Sibyl fay. 



2. 



What fwift terrors then fhall fall, 
When defcends the Judge of all, 
Every action to recall ! 



When the trump, with wondrous tone 
Through the graves of nations gone, 
Bids the race confront the Throne. 



88 The Dies Ira. 



Death is ftruck, and nature quaking, 

All creation is awaking, 

To its Judge an anfwer making ! 



Lo, the Book, exactly worded ! 
Wherein all hath been recorded ; 
Thence mail judgment be awarded. 



6. 

When the Judge His feat attaineth, 
And each hidden deed arraigneth, 
Nothing unaveng'd remaineth. 



What fhall I, frail man, be pleading, 
Who for me be interceding, 
When the juft are mercy needing ? 



The Dies Ira. 89 



Death fhall die — fair nature too ; 
As the creature, ris'n anew, 
Anfwers to his God's review. 



He the fcroll of fate fhall fpread, 
Writ with all things done or faid, 
Thence to judge th' awaken'd dead. 



6. 

Lo ! He takes His feat of light ; 
All that's dark fhall leap to fight, 
Guilt, the fword of vengeance fmite. 



What can I, then, wretched, plead ? 
Who will mediate in my need 
When the juft fhall fcarce fucceed ? 



90 The Dies Ircz. 

8. 

King of majefty tremendous, 
Who doft free falvation fend us, 
Fount of pity ! then befriend us ! 



Think ! Kind Jefu, my falvation 
Caus'd Thy wondrous Incarnation ; 
Leave me not to reprobation ! 



10. 



Faint and weary Thou haft fought me, 
On the Crofs of fuffering bought me ; 
Shall fuch grace be vainly brought me \ 



II. 



Righteous Judge of retribution, 

Grant Thy gift of abfolution, 

Ere that reckoning day's conclufion ! 



C I 'he Dies Ira. 91 

8. 

King majeftic ! Sovereign dread ! 
Saving all for whom He bled, 
Save Thou me ! Salvation's Head ! 



Holy Jefus ! pricelefs ftay ! 
Think ! for me Thy bleeding way ! 
Lofe me not, upon That Day. 



10. 



Faint and weary, Thou haft fought, 
By the Crofs, my crown haft bought ; 
Can fuch anguifh be for naught ? 



II. 



Oh ! avenging Judge fevere, 
Grant remiflion, full and clear, 
Ere th' accounting day appear. 



92 The Dies Ira. 



12. 



Guilty, now I pour my moaning, 
All my fhame with anguifh owning \ 
Spare, O God, Thy fuppliant, groaning ! 



l 3- 

Thou, the finful woman faveft, 
Thou, the dying thief forgaveft ; 
And to me a hope vouchfafeft ! 



14. 

Worthlefs are my pray'rs and fighing, 
Yet, good Lord, in grace complying, 
Refcue me from fires undying ! 



15- 

With Thy favor'd meep, O place me ! 
Nor among the goats abafe me ; 
But to Thy right hand upraife me. 



Hbe Dies Ira. 93 



12. 



Like a guilty thing I moan, 
Flufh'd my cheek, my fins I own, 
Hear, O God, Thy fuppliant's groan ! 



J 3- 

Magdalen found grace with Thee, 
So the thief upon the tree ; 
Hope Thou giveft e'en to me. 



Worthlefs are my vows, I know, 
Yet, dear Lord, Thy pity mow, 
Left I fink in endlefs woe. 



15. 

From the goats my lot divide, 
With Thy lambs a place provide, 
On Thy right and near Thy fide. 



94 The Dies Ira. 

16. 

While the wicked are confounded, 
Doom'd to flames of woe unbounded, 
Call me ! with Thy faints furrounded. 



J 7- 

Low I kneel, with heart fubmiflion ; 
See, like afhes, my contrition ; 
Help me, in my laft condition ! 



18. 



Ah ! that Day of tears and mourning ! 
From the duft of earth returning, 
Man for judgment muft prepare him ; 
Spare ! O God, in mercy, fpare him ! 

Lord, who didft our fouls redeem, 
Grant a blefTed Requiem ! Amen. 



The Dies Ira. g$ 

16. 

When th' accursed fink in fhame, 
Given to tormenting flame, 
With Thy blefled call my name. 



i7- 

Bowed to earth, I ftrive in prayer j 
Heart like cinders, fee, I bear; 
Its laft throbbing be Thy care ! 



18. 

Ah ! That Day of burning tears, 
When from afhes reappears 
Man all guilt, his doom to bear — 
Spare him, God ! in mercy, spare ! 



96 "The Stabat Mater. 



THE STABAT MATER. 



THE Stabat Mater, with the Dies Ires, 
pofTefTes the power of imparting a fhad- 
owy impreffion of its meaning by the melody of 
its verfe. Its foft, fad cadence echoes the feeling 
of its pathetic words. In fame it ranks next to 
the Dies Ir<z, yet is neither fo fimple nor fo 
grand ; nor does it rife, like the Great Hymn, 
above fectarian faults. It has attracted the fame 
great admiration, and been praifed and repeated 
by the fame great admirers, but always in a 
lefTer degree. As the Dies Ires has been pro- 
nounced the greater!:, fo the Stabat Mater 
univerfally is deemed the moil pathetic of 
hymns. 

The life of its author was in fit keeping with 
its plaintive utterances. He was born at Todi, 
of the noble Italian houfe of Benedette, and 
rofe to diftin£tion as a jurift. A few years 



Hhe Stabat Mater. 97 

after the Dies free was written (1268), he loft 
his wife, and, broken-hearted, renounced the 
world to join, like Thomas of Celano, the 
Order of St. Francis. In the ardor of his devo- 
tion, he tried to atone by felf-fought tortures 
not only for his own fins, but, like our Saviour, 
for the fins of others. At laft his forrows fank 
into infanity and ended in death. 

Dying about the time that Petrarch was born, 
and while Dante was ftill a young man, his 
Cant ace Spirit ua/i mark the dawning day of 
the Italian language. In an old Venetian 
copy of thefe, the hiftorian of the Francif- 
cans (Wadding) found a number of Latin 
poems, amongft which was the Stabat Mater, 
and thus eftablifhed for the Order of St. Francis 
the honor of producing, within the fame cen- 
tury, the two moft celebrated of Latin hymns. 

When the firft edition of this book was pub- 
lifhed, there was a weaknefs in the Englifh ex- 
pofition of the STABAT MATER which no 
fearch after fitting tranflations could cure, and 
the reader was warned that few Englim verfions 
had been made, and not one that ftri&ly pre- 



98 The Stabat Mater. 

ferved its meafure. That of Lord Lindfay was 
felected, and is ftill retained, as beft expreiling 
the pathos of the original. Since then, however, 
this portion of our literature has received fuch 
additions as will render the expofition of the 
moft pathetic of hymns as complete as it probably 
ever can be made. 

The firfc of thefe new verfions is by the accom- 
plifhed foldier whofe verfion of the Dies Ine pre- 
vioufly is given. The fact is noticeable that 
while his accurate rhythmic tranflation of the 
" Great Hymn " was written amidft the din of 
war, and while its author was on duty in the field, 
this pathetic verfion of the STABAT MATER 
has been compofed while its author was furrounded 
by the gayeties of the French capital, and engroffed 
in his duties as Minifler Plenipotentiary, In a 
private letter, General Dix fays : — 

" As I proceeded, I could not but think under how much more 
favorable drcumftances than mine Jacobus de Benedictis muft 
have written the immortal hymn. He was in all probability fit- 
ting in his narrow cell, the external world entirely fhut out, with 
nothing before him but a crucifix, to which it was only necefiary 
to lift his eyes for aid when he felt the fpirit of infpiration flag- 



^he Stabat Mater. 99 

ging. On the other hand, I was compelled to write in a Parifian 
faloon, amid the glare of meretricious gilding, almoft under the 
fhadow of the great triumphal arch — one of thofe gigantic 
memorials of human victories which for the caufe of human civil- 
ization had much better be forgotten than commemorated ; the 
canvas on the walls fwarming with young fauns, cupids, and 
other Pagan devices. 

" In making the tranflation I kept in view three or four lead- 
ing objefts which I will briefly ftate. 

" I. An inflexible adherence to the rhythm. 

" 2. A faithful prefervation of every thought contained in the 
original. 

" 3. A vigorous exclufion of every thought net contained in it. 

fi 4. A prefervation as far as pofiible, of the tendernefs of feel- 
ing and exprefiion, which is the characteristic of the hymn." 

The fecond of the new tranflations is by that 
accomplifhed author, two of whofe remarkable 
renderings of the Dies Irce already enrich this 
work. Of the verfion now given a diftinguifhed 
fcholar fays, " The Englifh double rhyme rarely 
exprefTes the melody and pathos of the Latin. 
Dr. Abraham Coles, of Newark, has probably 
beft succeeded in a faithful rendering of the Mater 
Dolorofar—Dr. Philip Schaf. 

A further expofition of the Stabat Mater is 
given in the newly found companion-hymn, Stabat, 



100 The Stabat Mater. 

Mater Speciofa, with its tranflation, the laft work 
of Dr. John Mafon Neale. This long-loft 
lyric has recently been introduced to American 
readers by Dr. Schaff, who has briefly told its 
ftory, and thus admirably analyzed its relation to 
the Stabat Mater : — 

" While the latter has been known and admired for nearly five 
centuries, the former, though probably as old, was buried in ob- 
fcurity, until it was brought to light in our day by A. F. Ozanam 
in his work on the Francifcan Poets, and in the improved Ger- 
man edition of this work by Julius, with an admirable tranflation 
of the hymn by Cardinal Diepenbrock, then bifhop of Breflau. 
The poem has alfo attracted the attention of Englifh hymnologifts, 
and been tranflated for the firft time into Englifh by the late Dr. 
John Mafon Neale, who published the original Latin with the 
tranflation a few days before his death, in Auguft, 1866, thus 
clofing his ufeful and brilliant hymnological labors. 

The Mater Speciofa and the Mater Dolorofa are, apparently, the 
product of the fame genius. They are companion-hymns, and re- 
femble each other like twin fitters. The Mater Dolorofa was 
evidently fuggefted by the Scripture fcene, as briefly ftated by St. 
John, Stabat juxta cruccm mater ejus ; and this again, fuggefted the 
cradle-hymn as a counterpart. It is a parallelifm of contraft which 
runs from beginning to end. The Mater Speciofa is a Chriftmas 
hymn, and fings the overflowing joy of Mary at the cradle of 
the new-born Saviour. The Mater Dolorofa is a Good Friday 
hymn, and fings the piercing agony of Mary at the crofs of her 



The Stabat Mater. 101 

divine human Son. They breathe the fame love to Chrift, and 
the burning defire to become identified with Mary by fympathy in 
the intenfity of her joy as in the intenfity of her grief. They are 
the fame in ftrudture, and excel alike in the Angularly touch- 
ing mufic of language, and the foft cadence that echoes the fenti- 
ment. Both confift of two parts, the firft of which defcribes the 
objective fituation; the fecond identifies the author .with the 
fituation, and addreffes the Virgin as an object of worfhip. Both 
bear the imprefs of their age and the monaftic order which 
probably gave them birth. The myfterious charm and power of 
the two hymns are due to the subject and to the intenfity of feeling 
with which the author feized it. Mary at the manger, and Mary 
at the crofs, opens a vifta to an abyfs of joy and of grief fuch as 
the world never faw before. Mary ftood there not only as the 
mother, but as the reprefentative of the whole Chriftian church, 
for which the eternal Son of God was born an infant in the 
manger, and for which he fufFered the moft ignominious death on 
the crofs. 



102 The Stabat Mater. 



STABAT MATER 



JACOBUS DE BENEDICTIS. 



I. 

STABAT Mater dolorofa, 
Juxta crucem lacrymofa, 
Dum pendebat filius. 
Cujus animam gementem, 
Contriftatam et dolentem, 
Pertranfivit gladius. 

II. 

O quam triftis et afflicta, 
Fuit ilia benedicta 

Mater unigeniti ! 
Quae moerebat et dolebat, 
Pia mater, dum videbat 

Nati poenas inclyti. 



-The Stabat Mater, 103 



THE STABAT MATER. 

LORD LINDSAY. 
I. 

BY the Crofs, fad vigil keeping, 
Stood the mournful mother weeping, 
While on it the Saviour hung ; 
In that hour of deep diftrefs, 
Pierced the fword of bitternefs 

Through her heart with forrow wrung. 

2. 

Oh ! how fad, how woe-begone 
Was that ever-bleffed one, 

Mother of the Son of God ! 
Oh ! what bitter tears me fhed 
Whilft before her Jesus bled 

'Neath the Father's penal rod ! 



104 ^be Stabat Mater. 

in. 

Quis eft homo qui non fleret, 
Chrifti matrem fi videret 

In tanto fupplicio ? 
Quis poffet non contriftari 
Piam matrem contemplari 

Dolentem cum filio ? 

IV. 

Pro peccatis fuae gentis, 
Vidit Jefum in tormentis, 

Et flagellis fubditum. 
Vidit fuum dulcem natum, 
Morientem, defolatum, 

Dum emifit fpiritum. 

v. 

Eia mater, fons amoris, 
Me fentire vim doloris 

Fac, ut tecum lugeam 
Fac ut ardeat cor meum, 
In amando Chriftum Deum 

Ut illi complaceam. 



The Stab at Mater. 105 

3- 

Who's the man could view unmoved 
Christ's fweet mother, whom He loved, 

In fuch dire extremity ? 
Who his pitying tears withhold, 
Christ's fweet mother to behold 

Sharing in His agony ? 

4- 

For the Father's broken law, 
Mary thus the Saviour faw 

Sport of human cruelties — 
Saw her fweet, her only Son, 
God-forfaken and undone, 

Die a finlefs facriflce ! 



Mary mother, fount of love, 
Make me fhare thy forrow, move 

All my foul to fympathy ! 
Make my heart within me glow 
With the love of Jesus — fo 

Shall I find acceptancy. 



ic6 'The Stabat Mater. 

VI. 

Sancla Mater, iftud agas, 
Crucifixi fige plagas 

Cordi meo valide. 
Tui Nati vulnerati, 
Tam dignati pro me pati, 

Poenas mecum divide. 

VII. 

Fac me vere tecum flere, 
Crucifixo condolere, 

Donee ego vixero. 
Juxta crucem tecum ftare, 
Et tibi me fociare 

In planctu defidero. 

VIII. 

Virgo virginum prasclara, 
Mihi jam non lis amara ; 

Fac me tecum plangere. 
Fac ut portem Chrifti mortem 
Paffionis fac confortem, 

Et plagas recolere. 



The Stabat Mater. 107 

6. 

Print, O Mother, on my heart, 
Deeply print the wounds, the fmart 

Of mv Saviour's chaftifement ; 
He who, to redeem my lofs, 
Deigned to bleed upon the crofs — 

Make me fhare His punifhment. 

7- 
Ever with thee, at thy fide, 
'Neath the Christ, the Crucified, 

Mournful mother, let me be ! 
By the Crofs fad vigil keeping, 
Ever watchful, ever weeping, 

Thy companion conftantly ! 

8. 

Maid of maidens, undefiled, 
Mother gracious, mother mild, 

Melt my heart to weep with thee ! 
Crown me with Christ's thorny wreath, 
Make me confort of His death, 

Sharer of K*is victory. 



108 The Stabat Mater, 

IX. 

Fac me plagis vulnerari, 
Fac me cruce inebriari, 

Et cruore filii. 
Inflammatus et accenfus, 
Per te, Virgo,: fim defenfus, 

In die judicii. 

x. 

Fac me cruce cuftodiri, 
Morte Chrifti praemuniri, 

Confbveri gratia. 
Quando corpus morietur, 
Fac ut animae donetur 

Paradifi gloria. 



The Stabat Mater. ioq 



y 



9- 
Never from the mingled tide 
Flowing ftill from Jesus' fide, 

May my lips inebriate turn ; 
And when in the day of doom, 
Lightning-like He rends the tomb, 

Shield, oh fhield me, left I burn ! 

10. 

So the fhadow of the tree 
Where thy Jesus bled for me 

Still mail be my fortalice > 
So when flefh and fpirit fever 
Shall I live, thy boon, for ever 

In the joys of Paradife ! 



110 Hbe Stabat Mater 



STABAT MATER. 



GENERAL DIX. 



I. 

EAR the Crofs the Saviour bearing 
Stood the mother lone, defpairing, 
Bitter tears down falling faft. 
Wearied was her heart with grieving, 
Worn her breaft with forrow heaving, 
Through her foul the fword had paffed. 

2. 

Ah ! how fad and broken-hearted 
Was that bleffed mother, parted 

From the God-begotten One ! 
How her loving heart did languifh 
When fhe faw the mortal anguifh 

Which o'erwhelmed her peerlefs Son. 



Tbe Stabat Mater. ill 



STABAT MATER 



DR. COLES. 



I. 



STOOD the afflicted mother weeping 
Near the crofs her ftation keeping 
Whereon hung her Son and Lord ; 
Through whofe fpirit fympathizing, 
Sorrowing and agonizing 
Alfo patted the cruel fword. 



2. 

Oh ! how mournful and diftrefled 
Was that favored and moft blefled 

Mother of the only Son ! 
Trembling, grieving, bofom heaving, 
While perceiving, fcarce believing, 

Pains of that Illuftrious One. 



112 the Stabat Mater 



Who could witnefs without weeping 
Such a flood of forrow fweeping 

O'er the ftricken mother's breaft ? 
Who contemplate without being 
Moved to kindred grief by feeing 

Son and mother thus opprefTed ? 



For our fins fhe faw Him bending 
And the cruel lafh defcending 

On His body ftripped and bare ; 
Saw her own dear Jefus dying, 
Heard His fpirit's laft out-crying 

Sharp with anguifh and defpair. 



Gentle Mother, love's pure fountain ! 
Carl, oh ! caft on me the mountain 

Of thy grief that I may weep ; 
Let my heart with ardor burning, 
Chrift's unbounded love returning, 

His rich favor win and keep. 



tte Stabat Mater. 113 



Who the man, who, called a brother, 
Would not weep, faw he Chrift's mother 

In fuch deep diftrefs and wild ? 
Who could not fad tribute render 
Witneffing that mother tender 

Agonizing with her child ? 



For His people's fins atoning, 
Him fhe faw in torments groaning, 

Given to the fcourger's rod ; 
Saw her darling offspring dying, 
Defolate, forfaken, crying, 

Yield His fpirit up to God. 



Make me feel thy forrow's power, 
That with thee I tears may mower, 

Tender mother, fount of love ! 
Make my heart with love unceafing 
Burn toward Chrift the Lord, that pleafing 

I may be to Him above. 



114 Tbe Stab at Mater. 

6. 

Holy Mother, be thy ftudy 

Chrift's dear image fcarred and bloody 

To enfhrine within my heart ! 
Martyred Son ! whofe grace has fet me 
Free from endlefs death, oh ! let me 

Of Thy fufferings bear a part. 



Mother, let our tears commingle, 
Be the crucifix my fingle 

Sign of forrow while I live : 
Let me by the Crofs ftand near thee, 
There to fee thee, there to hear thee, 

For each figh a figh to give. 

8. 

Pureft of the Virgins ! turn not 
Thy difpleafure on me — fpurn not 

My defire to weep with thee. 
Let me live Chrift's paffion fharing, 
All His wounds and forrows bearing 

In my tearful memory. 



T^he Stabat Mater. 115 

6. 

Holy mother, this be granted, 

That the flain one's wounds be planted 

Firmly in my heart to bide. 
Of Him wounded, all aftounded — 
Depths unbounded for me founded^ 

All the pangs with me divide. 



Make me weep with thee in union ; 
With the Crucified, communion 

In His grief and fuffering give ; 
Near the crofs with tears unfailing 
I would join thee in thy wailing 

Here as long as I fhall live. 

8. 

Maid of maidens, all excelling ! 
Be not bitter, me repelling, 

Make thou me a mourner too ; 
Make me bear about Chrift's dying, 
Share His paflion, fhame defying, 

All His wounds in me renew. 



Il6 Tbe Stab at Mater. 



Be, ye wounds, my tribulation ! 
Be, thou Crofs, my infpiration ! 

Mark, O blood, my Heaven-ward way. 
Thus to fervor rapt, O tender 
Virgin, be thou my defender 

In the dreadful Judgment Day. 

10. 

With the Crofs my faith I'll cherifh ; 
By Chrift's death fuftained I'll perifh, 

Through His grace again to rife. 
Come then, Death, this body fealing, 
To my ranfomed foul revealing 

Glorious days in Paradife. 



The Stabat Mater. 117 



Wound for wound be there created ; 
With the crofs intoxicated 

For thy Son's dear fake, I pray — 
May I, fired with pure affection, 
Virgin, have through thee protection 

In the folemn Judgment Day. 

10. 

Let me by the Crofs be warded, 
By the death of Chrift be guarded, 

Nourished by divine fupplies. 
When the body death hath riven, 
Grant that to the foul be given 

Glories bright of Paradife. 



u8 The Stabat Mater. 



MATER SPECIOSA 



JACOBUS DE BENEDICTIS. 



I. 

STABAT Mater fpeciofa 
Juxta foenum gaudiofa, 
Dum jacebat parvulus ; 
Cujus animam gaudentem 
Lactabundam ac ferventem 
Pertranfivit jubilus. 

ii. 

O quam laeta et beata 
Fuit ilia immaculata 

Mater Unigeniti ! 
Quae gaudebat et ridebat, 
Exultabat, cum videbat 

Nati partum inclyti. 



The Stabat Mater. 119 



MATER SPECIOSA 



DR. NEALE. 



I. 



FULL of beauty flood the mother 
By the manger, bleft o'er other, 
Where her little one fhe lays : 
For her inmoft foul's elation, 
In its fervid jubilation, 

Thrills with ecftafy of praife. 



2. 

Oh ! what glad, what rapturous feeling 
Filled that blefled mother, kneeling 

By the Sole-Begotten One ! 
How, her heart with laughter bounding, 
She beheld the work aftounding, 

Saw His birth, the glorious Son. 



120 *ihe Stabat Mater. 

in. 

Quis jam eft, qui non gauderet 
Chrifti matrem ft videret 

In tanto folatio ? 
Quis non poflet collaetari, 
Chrifti matrem contemplari 

Ludentem cum filio ? 

IV. 

Pro peccatis fuae gentis 
Chriftum vidit cum jumentis 

Et algori fubditum ; 
Vidit fuum dulcem natum 
Vagientem, adoratum 

Vili diverforio. 

v. 

Nato Chrifto in praefepe 
Goeli cives canunt laete 

Cum immenfo gaudio 5 
Stabat fenex cum puella 
Non cum verbo nee loquela 

Stupefcentes cordibus- 



The Stdbat Mater. 121 



Who is he, that fight who beareth, 
Nor Chrift's mother's folace fhareth 

In her bofom as He lay : 
Who is he that would not render 
Tend'reft love for love fo tender, 

Love, with that dear babe at play ? 



?or the trefpafs of her nation 
he with oxen faw His flation 
Subjected to cold and woe ; 
Saw her fweeteft offspring's wailing, 
Wife men Him with worfhip hailing, 
In the ftable, mean and low. 



Jefus lying in the manger, 
Heavenly armies fang the flranger, 

In the great joy-bearing part ; 
Stood the old man with the maiden, 
No words fpeaking, only laden 

With this wonder in their heart. 



122 Hbe Stabat Mater. 

VI. 

Eja mater, fons amoris, 
Me fentire vim ardoris, 

Fac ut tecum fentiam ! 
Fac ut ardeat cor meum 
In amatum Chriftum Deum, 

Ut fibi complaceam. 

VII. 

Sandta. mater, iftud agas, 
Prone introducas plagas 

Cordi fixas valide. 
Tui nati ccelo lapfi, 
Jam dignati foeno nafci 

Poenas mecum divide. 

VIII. 

Fac me vere congaudere, 
Jefulino cohaerere 

Donee ego vixero. 
In me fiftat ardor tui ; 
Puerino fac me frui 

Dum fum in exilio. 
Hunc ardorem fac communem, 
Ne me facias immunem 

Ab hoc defiderio. 



The Stabat Mater. 123 

6. 
Mother, fount of love ftill flowing, 
.Let me, with thy rapture glowing, 

Learn to fympathize with thee : 
Let me raife my heart's devotion 
Up to Chrifl with pure emotion, 

That accepted I may be. 

7- 
Mother, let me win this bleffing, 

Let His forrow's deep impreiling 

In my heart engraved remain : 
Since thy Son, from heaven defcending, 
Deigned to bear the manger's tending, 

Oh ! divide with me His pain. 

8. 
Keep my heart its gladnefs bringing, 
To my Jefus ever clinging 

Long as this my life fhall laft ; 
Love like that thine own love, give it, 
On my little child to rivet, 

Till this exile fhall be paft. 
Let me mare thine own affliction ; 
Let me fuffer no rejection 

Of my purpofe fixed and fail. 



124 Ti><? Stabat Mater. 

IX. 

Virgo virginum praeclara, 
Mihi jam non fis amara j 

Fac me parvum rapere ; 
Fac ut pulchrum fantem portem, 
Qui nafcendo vicit mortem, 

Volens vitam tradere. 

x. 

Fac me tecum fatiari, 
Nato me inebriari, 

Stans inter tripudio. 
Inflammatus et accenfus 
Obftupefcit omnis fenfus 

Tali de commercio. 

XI. 

Omnes ftabulum amantes, 
Et paftores vigilantes ■ 

Pernocl:antes fociant. 
Per virtutem nati tui 
Ora ut ele£ti sui 

Ad patriam veniant. 



-The Stabat Mater. 125 



Virgin, peerlefs of condition, 
Be not wroth with my petition, 

Let me clafp thy little Son ; 
Let me bear that child fo glorious, 
Him, whofe birth, o'er death victorious, 

Willed that life for man was won. 

10. 

Let me, fatiate with my pleafure, 
Feel the rapture of thy treafure 

Leaping for that joy intenfe : 
That, inflamed by fuch communion, 
Through the marvel of that union 

I may thrill in every fenfe. 

11. 

All that love this ftable truly, 
And the fhepherds watching duly, 

Tarry there the livelong night : 
Pray that, by thy Son's dear merit, 
His elected may inherit 

Their own country's endlefs light. 



126 The Feni Sana*. 



THE VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS. 



IN the year 997, " whilft the priefthood ftrug- 
" gled to regain through their anathemas the 
" property that had been taken from them by 
" violence, a young man, who knew neither to 
" threaten nor to lie, nor to infpire others with 
cc fear, fucceeded to the royal dignity which his 
" father had ufurped. It was Robert, only fon 
" of Hugh Capet." — Sifmondi, Hiji. Francais. 

This King, " there is no good reafon to 
" doubt" (Konigsfelct), was the author of the 
Veni Sancte Spiritus, a hymn that the beft 
living authority regards as " the lovelieft of all 
" the hymns in the whole circle of Latin facred 
Ci poetry." — Trench. 

The ability of Robert II. to have compofed 
the hymn which ranks next to the Dies Irce and 



The Feni Sancie. 127 

Stabat Mater , is not improbable, for, according 
to the chronicle of Saint Bertin, he was a faint, 
a poet, and a mufician : 

" Robert etoit tres-pieux, prudent, lettre, et fuffifamment phi- 
"lofophe, mais furtout excellent muficien. II compofa la profe 
"du Saint-Efprit, qui commence par ces mots, Adfit nobis gratia, 
" les rhythmes, Jud<£ et Hierufaktn, et Cornelius Ccnturio, qu'il 
" offrit a Rome fur l'autel de Saint-Pierre, notes avec le chant 
" qui leur etoit propre, de meme que l'antiphone Eripe, et plu- 
" fieurs autres beaux morceaux." 

The tranflation which is here given is from 
the Lyra Germanica of Catherine Winkworth. 
That work profefTes to be tranflated from the 
German ; but its vcrfion of the Veni Sancte 
Spiritus is a finer tranflation than any that pro- 
fefTes to be from the Latin, 

The only alteration which has been made in 
the text is the firft word of the Englifh verilon. 
As there was no reafon for rendering the Latin 
verb by the Englifh interjection " O," it is pre- 
fumed that this was an unintended error of the 
ufually faithful and fcrupulous tranflator. 



12b The Feni Sancfe. 



VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS. 



ROBERT II. 



I. 



T 7ENI, San£te Spiritus, 

* Et emitte coelitus, 
Lrucls tus radium. 



ii. 

Veni ? pater pauperum, 
Veni, dator munerum, 
Vcni, lumen cordium, 



in. 

Confolator optime, 
Dulcis hofpes animae, 
Duke refrigerium. 



"The Feni Sanffe. 129 



THE VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS. 

CATHERINE WINKWORTH. 
I. 

COME, Holy Ghoft ! Thou fire divine ! 
From higheft heaven on us down fhine ! 
Comforter, be Thy comfort mine ! 

2. 

Come, Father of the poor, to earth ; 
Come with Thy gifts of precious worth ; 
Come, Light of all of mortal birth ! 

3- 

Thou rich in comfort ! Ever bleft 

The heart where Thou art conftant gueft, 

Who giv'ft the heavy-laden reft. 



130 The Veni Santte. 



IV. 



In labore requies, 
In aeftu temperies, 
In fletu folatium. 



v. 



O lux beatiffima ! 
Reple cordis intima, 
Tuorum fidelium. 



VI. 



Sine tuo numine, 
Nihil eft in homine, 
Nihil eft innoxium. 



VII. 



Lava quod eft fordidum, 
Riga quod eft aridum, 
Sana quod eft faucium. 



The Feni Sanffie. 131 



Come Thou in whom our toil is fweet, 
Our fhadow in the noon-day heat, 
Before whom mourning flieth fleet. 



Bright Sun of Grace ! Thy funfhine dart 
On all who cry to Thee apart, 
And fill with gladnefs every heart. 

6. 

Whate'er without Thy aid is wrought, 
Or fkilful deed, or wifeft thought, 
God counts it vain and merely naught. 

7- 

O cleanfe us that we fin no more, 
O'er parched fouls Thy waters pour ; 
Heal the fad heart that acheth fore. 



132 The Keni Sanffe. 



VIII. 



Fle&e quod eft rigidum, 
Fove quod eft frigidum, 
Rege quod eft devium. 



IX. 



Da tuis fidelibus, 
In te confidentibus, 
Sacrum feptenarium. 



x. 



Da virtutis meritum, 
Da falutis exitum, 
Da perenne gaudium. 



The Feni Sanffe. 133 

8. 

Thy will be ours in all our ways ; 
O melt the frozen with Thy rays ; 
Call home the loft in error's maze. 

9- 

And grant us, Lord, who cry to Thee, 
And hold the Faith in unity, 
Thy precious gifts of charity. 

10. 

That we may live in holinefs, 
And find in death our happinefs, 
And dwell with Thee in lafting blifs ! 



'34 'the Veni Creator. 



THE VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. 



"/CHARLEMAGNE, reclame par l'Eglife 
^>* comme un faint, par les Francais comme 
" leur plus grand roi, par les Allemands comme 
"leur compatriote, par les Italiens comme leur 
tc empereur," is the reputed author of this 
Latin hymn. Men naturally prefer to trace a 
venerable and renowned compofition to an un- 
expected authorfhip, and to find the refinement 
of letters in thofe otherwife diftinguifhed ; flill 
more, to difcover in a great foldier and a great 
king the doubly refined gift of facred poetry. 
It is not impoffible. " The eloquence of Char- 
" lemagne," fays his Secretary, " was abundant. 
" He was able to exprefs with facility all he 
" wifhed ; and, not content with his mother- 
cc tongue, he beftowed great pains upon foreign 
" languages. He had taken fo well to the Latin, 
" that he was able to fpeak publicly in that Ian- 



c The Veni Creator, 135 

"guage almoft as eafily as in his own. He 
" underftood Greek, and ftudied Hebrew." 

There remains of his mufe an epitaph on 
Adrian L, in thirty-eight verfes ; the Song of 
Roland , an ode to the fcholar Warnefride, and 
an epigram in hexameter verfe. This epigram 
was found in a manufcript containing a com- 
mentary on the Epi/ile to the Romans, attributed 
to Origen, and corrected in the hand of Char- 
lemagne. The fubjecl: of the hymn feems alfo 
to have engaged the attention of the Emperor, 
for there is a letter by him addreffed to his 
bifhops, entitled De gratia feptiformis Spiritus. 
He died at Aix-la-Chapelle, his crown upon his 
head, and his copy of the Gofpels upon his 
knees, January 28, 814, 

The Englifh verfion of the hymn is the para- 
phrafe of Dryden, of which Warton fays : u This 
" is a moft elegant and beautiful little morfel, 
" and one of his moft correct compofitions." 
There is a tranflation in the Prayer Book (Or- 
dering of Priefts) which is noteworthy, as being 
the only Breviary hymn retained by the Epifco- 
pal Church. 



136 ^he Veni Creator, 

VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. 

CHARLEMAGNE. 

VENI, Creator Spiritus, 
Mentes tuorum vifita, 
Imple fuperna gratia, 
Quae tu creafti pe£tora. 

Qui diceris Paraclitus, 
Altiffimi donum Dei, 
Fons vivus, ignis, charitas, 
Et fpiritalis unctio. 

Tu feptiformis munere, 
Digitus Paternae dexterae, 
Tu rite promirTum Patris, 
Sermone ditans guttura. 

Accende lumen fenfibus, 
Infunde amorem cordibus, 
Infirma noftri corporis 
Virtute firmans perpeti. 



c fbe Veni Creator. *37 



THE VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. 

DRYDEN. 

CREATOR Spirit, by whofe aid 
The world's foundations flrft were laid, 
Come vifit every pious mind, 
Come pour Thy joys on human kind ; 
From fin and forrow fet us free, 
And make Thy temples worthy Thee. 

O source of uncreated light, 
The Father's promifed Paraclete ! 
Thrice holy fount, thrice holy fire, 
Our hearts with heavenly love infpire ; 
Come, and Thy facred unction bring, 
To fan&ify us while we fing. 

Plenteous of grace, defcend from high, 

Rich in Thy fevenfold energy ! 

Thou ftrength of His almighty hand, 

Whofe power does heaven and earth command. 

Proceeding Spirit, our defence, 

Who doft the gifts of tongues difpenfe, 

And crown'ft Thy gift with eloquence ! 



l38 Tbe Veni Creator. 

Hoftem repellas longius, 
Pacemque dones protinus : 
Du&ore fie te praevio 
Vitemus omne noxium. 

Per te fciamus da Patrem, 
Nofcamus atque Filium ; 
Teque utriufque Spiritum 
Credamus omni tempore. 

Deo Patri fit gloria 
Et Filio qui a mortuis 
Surrexit, ac Paraclito, 
In faeculorum faecula. 



^he Veni Creator, *39 

Refine and purge our earthly parts ; 
But, oh, inflame and fire our hearts ! 
Our frailties help, our vice control, 
Submit the fenfes to the foul ; 
And when rebellious they are grown, 
Then lay Thy hand and hold 'em down. 

Chase from our minds th' infernal foe, 
And peace the fruit of love beftow ; 
And left our feet mould ftep aftray, 
Protect and guide us on the way. 

Make us eternal truths receive, 
And practife all that we believe ; 
Give us Thyfelf, that we may fee 
The Father and the Son by Thee. 

Immortal honor, endlefs fame, 
Attend the Almighty Father's name : 
The Saviour Son be glorified, 
Who for loft man's redemption died 5 
And equal adoration be, 
Eternal Paraclete, to Thee. 



140 "The Fexilla Regis, 



THE VEXILLA REGIS 



THE Vexilla Regis was written about 
the year 580 — two hundred years before 
the time of Charlemagne, and feven hundred 
years before the birth of the Englifh language. 
It is therefore one of the oldeft'' of mediaeval 
hymns. 

Venantius Fortunatus, an Italian, whofe birth- 
place is unknown, was in early life a citizen of 
Ravenna, from which he was driven by the 
great invafion of the Lombards. He paffed into 
France, and became the fafhionable poet of his 
time. Subfequently he devoted his talents to a 
holier object, and became the friend of Saint 
Radegunde and Saint Gregory. He removed to 
Tours, was made Bifhop of Poitiers, and died 
about the year 600. 



Hhe Fexilla Regis. 141 

" This world-famous hymn, one of the grand- 
eft in the treafury of the Latin Church, was 
compofed by Fortunatus on occafion of the 
reception of certain relics by Saint Gregory of 
Tours and Saint Radegunde, previoufly to the 
confecration of a church at Poitiers. It is 
therefore ftri&ly and primarily a proceilional 
hymn, though, very naturally, afterwards adapted 
to Pailion-tide." — Medieval Hymns. 

" C'eft de Fortunat qu'eft le Vexilla Regis 
compofe, a Poccafion du morceau de la vraie 
croix, envoye par l'empereur Juftin a St. Rade- 
gonde." — Biographie Univerfelle. 

The laft two verfes were added when the 
hymn was appropriated to Paffion-tide. The 
ending of Fortunatus is this : 

" With fragrance dropping from each bough, 
Sweeter than fweeteft nedlar thou : 
Decked with the fruit of peace and praife, 
And glorious with Triumphal lays : — 

" Hail, Altar ! Hail, O VicYim ! Thee 
Decks now Thy Pamon's Victory ; 
Where Life for finners death endured, 
And life by death for man procured." 



142 The Fexilla Regis. 



VEXILLA REGIS 



FORTUNATUS. 



I. 



VEXILLA regis prodeunt, 
Fulget crucis myfterium. 
Quo carne carnis conditor 
Sufpenfus eft patibulo. 

11. 

Quo vulneratus infuper 
Mucrone diro lanceae, 
Ut nos lavaret crimine 
Manavit unda fanguine. 

in. 

Impleta funt quae concinit 
David fideli carmine 
Dicens : In nationibus 
Regnavit a ligno Deus. 



"The Vexilla Regis. 143 



THE VEXILLA REGIS. 

DR. NEALE. 
I. 

THE Royal Banners forward go ; 
The Crofs fhines forth in myftic glow ; 
Where He in flefh, our flefh who made, 
Our fentence bore, our ranfom paid. 

2. 

Where deep for us the fpear was dy'd, 
Life's torrent naming from His fide, 
To warn us in that precious flood 
Where mingled water flow'd, and blood. 

3- 

Fulfill* d is all that David told 

In true prophetic fong of old ; 

Amidft the nations God, faith he, 

Hath reign'd and triumph'd from the Tree. 



144 ^ e fexttto Regis, 

IV. 

Arbor decora et fulgida, 
Ornata regis purpura, 
Electa digno ftipite 
Tam fandta membra tangere, 

v. 

Beata cujus brachiis 
Pretium pependit faeculi, 
Statera fa6ta faeculi 
Praedamque tulit tartaris. 

VI. 

O crux ave, fpes unica ! 
Hoc paffionis tempore, 
Auge piis inftitiam 
Reifque dona veniam. 

VII. 

Te fumma Deus Trinitas 
Collaudet omnis fpiritus 
Quas per crucis myfterium 
Salvas, rege per faecula. 



The Vexilla Regis. 14^ 

4~ 

O- Tree of Beauty ! Tree of Light ! 
O Tree with royal purple dight ! 
Ele£t on whofe triumphal breaft 
Thofe holy limbs fhould find their reft ! 

5. 

On whofe dear arms, fo widely flung, 
The weight of this world's ranfom hung : 
The price of human kind to pay, 
And fpoil the Spoiler of his prey. 

6. 

O Crofs, our one reliance, hail ! 
This holy Pailion-tide, avail 
To give frefh merit to the faint, 
And pardon to the penitent. 

7- 

To Thee, Eternal Three in One, 
Let homage meet by all be done ; 
Whom by the Crofs Thou doft reftore, 
Preferve and govern evermore. 



146 Hbe Alleluiatic Sequence. 



THE ALLELUIATIC SEQUENCE. 



THIS famous Sequence, which may be re- 
garded as the parent of every Hallelujah 
Chorus that has been written fince, was com- 
pofed by Godefcalcus, prior to the year 950 — the 
year of his death. The little that is known of 
him is given by his translator. 

cc There is only one thing," fays Dr. Neale, 
" with refpecl: to the ufe of any of my hymns that 
has grieved me — the rejection of the noble mel- 
ody of the Alleluiatic Sequence, and that for 
a third-rate chant. What would be faid of chant- 
ing the Dies Ira ? And yet I really believe 
that it would fuffer lefs than does the Cantemus 
cuncti by fuch a fubftitution. Further, be it 
noticed, every fentence— I had almoft faid every 



The Alleluiatic Sequence. H7 

word — of the verfion was carefully fitted to the 
mufic, and the length of the lines correfponds to 
the length of each troparion in the original." 

" If it be faid that the original melody is diffi- 
cult, I can only reply that I have frequently 
heard it fung by a choir of children, of ages 
varying from four to fourteen ; and never more 
prettily than when, without any accompaniment 
at all, in the open, fields — the very fmall ones 
joining in for the greater part with the whole of 
their little energy." — Mediceval Hymns. 



148 Hbe Alleluiatic Sequence. 



CANTEMUS CUNCTI. 



c 



GODESCALCUS. 



ANTEMUS cuncti melodum nunc 

Alleluia. 

11. In laudibus aeterni regis haec plebs reful- 
tet Alleluia. 



hi. Hoc denique coeleftes chori cantent in 
altum Alleluia. 

iv. Hoc beatorum per prata paradifiaca pfallat 
concentus Alleluia. 

v. Quin et aftrorum micantia luminaria jubi- 
lent altum Alleluia. 

vi. Nubium curfus, ventorum volatus, ful- 
gurum coruscatio et tonitruum fo- 
nitus dulce confonent fimul 

Alleluia. 



The Alleliiiatk Seqzience. 149 



THE ALLELUIATIC SEQUENCE, 



DR. NEALE. 



THE ftrain upraife of joy and praife, Alleluia. 
2. To the glory of their King 

Shall the ranfom'd people fing Alleluia. 

3. And the Choirs that dwell on high 

Shall re-echo through the Iky Alleluia. 

4. They through the fields of Paradife that roam, 
The bleffed ones, repeat through that bright 

home Alleluia. 

5. The planets glitt'ring on their heavenly way, 
The mining conftellations, join, and fay 

Alleluia. 

6. Ye clouds that onward fweep ! 
Ye winds on pinions light ! 

Ye thunders, echoing loud and deep ! 

Ye lightnings, wildly bright ! 

In fweet confent unite your Alleluia 



15° ^Ihe Alleluiatic Sequence. 

vii. Fludhis et undae, imber et procellae, tem- 
peftas et ferenitas, cauma, gelu, 
nix, prunae, faltus, nemora pan- 
gant Alleluia. 

viii. Hinc variae volucres creatorem laudibus 
concinite cum Alleluia. 

ix. Aft illic refpondeant voces altae diverfarum 
beftiarum Alleluia. 

x. Iftinc montium cell! vertices fonent 

Alleluia. 

xi. Hinc vallium profunditates faltent 

Alleluia. 

xii. Tu quoque maris jubilans abyffe die 

Alleluia. 

xiii. Nee non terrarum molis immenfitates : 

Alleluia. 

xiv. Nunc omne genus humanum laudans ex- 
ultet : Alleluia. 

xv. Et creatori grates frequentans confonet : 

Alleluia. 

xvi. Hoc denique nomen audire jugiter de- 

lecl:atur : Alleluia. 



"The Alleluiatk Sequence. \ r \ 

7. Ye floods and ocean billows ! 
Ye ftorms and winter fnow ! 
Ye days of cloudlefs beauty ! 
Hoar froft and fummer glow ! 
Ye groves that wave in fpring, 

And glorious forefts, fing Alleluia. 

8. Firft let the birds, with painted plumage gay, 
Exalt their great Creator's praife, and fay 

Alleluia. 

9. Then let the beafts of earth, with varying 

{train, 
Join in Creation's Hymn, and cry again 

Alleluia. 

10. Here let the mountains thunder forth, fono- 

rous, Alleluia. 

11. There, let the valleys fing in gentler chorus, 

Alleluia. 

12. Thou jubilant abyfs of ocean, cry Alleluia. 

13. Ye traces of earth and continents, reply 

Alleluia. 

14. To God, who all Creation made, 

15. The frequent hymn be duly paid : Alleluia. 

16. This is the ftrain, the eternal ftrain, the 

Lord of all things loves : Alleluia. 



15 2 7/6*? Alleluia tic Sequence. 

xvii. Hoc etiam carmen coelefte comprobat 
ipfe Chriftus : Alleluia, 

xviii. Nunc vos focii cantate laetantes : 

Alleluia, 
xix. Et vos pueruli refpondete Temper 

Alleluia. 
xx. Nunc omnes canite fimul Alleluia dom- 
ino, Alleluia Chrifto pneumatique 

Alleluia. 

xxi. Laus Trinitati seternae in babtifmo domini 
quae clarificatur : Hinc canamus : 

Alleluia. 



The Alleluiatic Sequence. 153 

17. This is the fong, the heav'nly fong, that 

• Christ Himfelf approves : Alleluia. 

18. Wherefore we fing, both heart and voice 

awaking, Alleluia. 

19. And children's voices echo, anfwer making, 

Alleluia. 

20. Now from all men be out-pour'd 
Alleluia to the Lord ; 

With Alleluia evermore 

The Son and Spirit we adore. 

21. Praife be done to the Three in One. 

Alleluia ! Alleluia ! Alleluia ! Alleluia J 



•54 Appendix. 

APPENDIX. 



The concluding lines of the extract given at 
page 4, are in the original : 

" Si tua nuncia praevenit uncia, furge, fequaris ; 
Expete limina, nulla gravamina jam verearis. 
Si datur uncia, ftat prope gratia Pontificalis 5 
Sin procul haec valet, haec tibi lex manet eft fchola talis." 

The ninth and tenth ftanzas of the Stabat 
Mater are more literally rendered in the fol- 
lowing than in the verfion of Lord Lindfav. 
They alfo mow the inability of the Englifh 
double rhvme to exprefs the pathos which in- 
verts the Latin. 

" Let me with His ftripes be rended ; 
Let me by His blood be cleanfed — 

Looking to the Crucified. 
Then, O Virgin, by thee lighted, 
Wakened, warmed, aroufed, excited, 

For the judgment fan&ified. 

" Let me by the Crofs directed, 
By the death of Christ protected, 

See below His glory far. 
Then, this body mouldering, riven — 
Then be to my fpirit given 
Paradiji Gloria !" 



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